A Different World: Revelations
by striker
Summary: Alternate Universe story. Umbrella has called its three leading scientists to the Spencer Mansion for a special meeting. However, when strange things start happening it's up to the S.T.A.R.S. team to find out the truth. Please read and review.
1. Welcome to Raccoon

Disclaimer: I do not own any people, places, or things associated at all with any of the Resident Evil games.

Note: This is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE story based off of the Resident Evil universe. I know that Alexia is a bitch, Wesker's a dick, Marcus is a prick, and Birkin is an obsessive bastard. HOWEVER, in this story they are NOT the bad guys. Also, several of the characters are changed in some way (background, personality, living space, etc). The storyline as well as the series of events has also been changed. With this in mind, here we go.

**A Different World: Revelations**

By: Striker

Act One: Welcome to Raccoon

A young woman in a white lab coat peered into a microscope, checking the results of her experiment. She looked to be in her early twenties with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail. She stepped back from the microscope and picked up a tape recorder from the table the device was sitting on. The room was a standard lab with various instruments and machines situated on a long brown table. The walls were a sterile white. The linoleum floor reflected the florescent lights that lit the room up. On one of the walls a series if incubators full of Petri dishes hummed softly. The woman ran her fingers through her hair as she pushed the record button. "Wednesday, October 14, 1998. 1:45 PM. Test number 25 completed. Success rate still around seventy-five percent. While most of the viruses delivered their contents to the cells with desired results, there are still some problems getting all the viruses to complete delivery. These problems result from some of the viruses not attaching themselves to the cells, sporadic mutation of virus DNA making delivery of the package impossible, or in the worse case the virus infecting the cells. As for the cells that have successfully received the package, there have been few problems with the cells accepting the genes." The woman turned to the incubators and spoke into the recorder. "Herpesviridae batch number 18 and Hepadnaviridae batch number 16 will be ready by tomorrow. Testing on RNA viruses Filoviridae and Retroviridae will begin next week on the 19th or 20th. Hopefully these viruses will prove to be more suitable specimens for this research." The woman pushed the stop button on the tape recorder and set it back down on the table. Leaning against the table she let out a sign. "Almost two and a half years and I'm only three-quarters of the way there. Still, if I was the first person to be doing this kind of research I wouldn't be anywhere's near this far." She went back to the microscope and looked into it again.

The door to the lab opened and a female lab assistant walked in. "Dr. Ashford, I have a message for you."

"What do they want?" Dr. Ashford asked.

"You've been called to a meeting." The assistant said. "Oh and doctor, if you don't mind me asking, where is your ID card?"

"I took it off." Dr. Ashford replied. "I find that it gets in my way." She reached into her coat pocket and retrieved her card. Next to her picture it read DR. ALEXIA ASHFORD UMBRELLA PHARMACEUTICALS ANTARCTICA RESEARCH FACILITY. She clipped her card to the pocket of her coat. "So what kind of meeting is so important that it would require me to put off vital medical research that I've spent the last couple of years trying to finish?"

"I believe it has to do with your research." The assistant said cheerfully. "Maybe they want to congratulate you on your progress."

Alexia let out a chuckle and left the room. "If they want to congratulate me they should wait till I'm done."

The assistant quickly followed Alexia down the hall. "From what I was told to tell you this is a meeting to check on the progress of all the company's projects. I guess that the higher ups want you to compare notes and see if each project can benefit from the success of the others."

"So where is this meeting supposed to be held?" Alexia asked.

The assistant's face broke into a big grin. "The legendary Spencer Estate in Raccoon City, Colorado."

Alexia stopped and turned to the assistant. "The Spencer Estate, isn't that the facility that both Dr. James Marcus and the Birkins are conducting their research? If that's the case then this meeting is more important than I thought. The only problem is that I have to prepare the samples for the next round of tests. When is it?"

"This weekend." The assistant replied. "They want you there early though. Something about throwing a big party before the meeting takes place. You're to leave by way of transport tomorrow afternoon. You're to arrive in Brazil and get on a commercial flight to Denver. I think this trip will be good for you. It'll give you a chance to go someplace warmer than this freezer."

"Since Umbrella went through all this trouble already I might as well go." Alexia said. "I'll put Dr. Jenkins in charge of the experiments. I better start packing now. Do me a favor and start getting my research together. I'll need it by tomorrow morning."

"Don't worry; I'll have it all ready for you." The assistant said. "I hope you have fun on your trip."

Alexia watched the young woman excitingly run off. "Dr. Marcus and Dr. Birkin. Looks like I'll finally be able to meet you." With that Alexia turned and headed for her room.

* * *

"I can't believe we have to do this." Chris said, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Calm down Chris." Jill said. "And you say that _I'm_ impatient." The two S.T.A.R.S. members were waiting at the Denver Airport. They were both dressed in jeans and T-shirts, making it difficult to tell that they were working. Other people were busily rushing by to catch planes, pick up luggage, or rent cars. The two had been waiting for a few hours for Alexia's arrival. Jill looked out the large windows that lined the wall of the loading area. They had been asked to pick up Alexia and to take her to the Spencer Estate. While Jill didn't mind, Chris was a different story.

"It's just that I didn't go through all that military training to be a chauffer." Chris shot back. "Come on Jill, with the money Umbrella has you would think that they would spring the money to get this Dr. Ashford a cab."

Jill walked over to Chris and draped her arm around his neck. "Come on; don't tell me that you didn't mind getting out of that office for once. I for one am glad to be away from the station. I swear the only reason half those guys bother to show up for work is just for a chance to see me walk through the halls."

Chris chuckled. "Who can blame them? At least they haven't tried slap your ass yet."

"That'll be the last thing they ever do." Jill said. "Nobody touches me without my permission."

"So that's why you never got any dates in college. All the boys were scared that you would beat the shit out of them." Chris said. With that remark Jill smacked him in the shoulder and crossed her arms. "So when is this lady getting here?" Chris asked, a big grin on his face.

"The plane should have been here by now." Jill replied dryly.

Chris looked out over the runway. "Do we know what she looks like? The last thing I want to do is stand by the luggage department holding a big sign over my head."

Jill reached into her pocket and pulled out a picture. "This is what Dr. Ashford looks like. Frankly I don't think we're going to miss her."

Chris looked at the picture. "She sure is attractive. I bet she has to fend men off with a stick."

"Well from what I heard she's supposed to be a genius." Jill said. "According to Wesker she's meeting some other equally brilliant people for some big get together."

"I don't care what's going on." Chris said. "All I care about is picking this woman up, taking her to Raccoon, and then going home. I had to get up too damn early for this job."

Just then an announcement for Alexia's flight came over the loudspeakers. "Delta Flight 87 from Houston is now arriving at gate four. Thank you."

"About damn time." Chris huffed.

"You better be nice to her." Jill said. "The last thing I need is for Wesker to yell at us for being rude to an important person. We'll just pick her up, drop her off at the mansion, and call it a day." Jill finished the last part of her sentence by giving Chris a sly grin. Chris replied by smiling back and pointing towards the gate. Jill looked towards the direction he was pointing and saw Alexia looking around the airport. She was wearing a blue shirt and skirt with her hair in a braid. "It's about damn time." Jill muttered under her breath. She and Chris started towards Alexia. "Dr. Ashford, my name's Jill Valentine and this is Chris Redfield. We're with the Raccoon City S.T.A.R.S. and we were asked by Captain Wesker to escort you to the Spencer Estate." Jill then extended her hand.

"It's nice to meet you." Alexia said as she shook Jill's hand. "Please, call me Alexia. I'm not very fond of formal titles." Alexia released Jill's hand and looked around. "I was under the impression that Umbrella was sending someone to pick me up. I never expected that they'd send someone like you."

"Apparently our Captain was asked to get you, and we were lucky enough to get chosen." Chris said as he and Alexia shook. "We were surprised ourselves."

"Well, we better get your luggage and get on our way." Jill said. "It's at least a two hour drive back. I'm sure people are waiting for you at the Spencer place this minute. It's best not to keep them waiting."

Alexia nodded. "I agree. I'm anxious to find out what this meeting is for. I'm also excited about meeting both Dr. Marcus and Dr. Birkin."

Chris began heading for the luggage claim. "Jill, get the car. I'll get Dr. Ashford's bags."

"Please, Alexia is just fine." Alexia replied, following Chris.

"I'm just trying to avoid being yelled at for being rude." Chris said, smirking at Jill. Jill shot him back a dirty look and flicked him off before heading to the car.

* * *

"So what exactly do you do?" Chris asked. The threesome had been driving for an hour and had been making small-talk. Chris was behind the wheel with Jill next to him. Alexia was in the back seat. "It must be something important if you're working for Umbrella."

Alexia nodded. "Right now I'm working with Herpesviridae and Hepadnaviridae for the last few years."

"Hepa-what-da?" Chris asked.

"I'm sorry." Alexia replied. "I'm working with the viruses that cause Herpes and Hepatitis B. I'm also starting to work with the Ebola and AIDS viruses. As you probably know viruses replicate themselves by attaching to cells and, depending on the virus, injecting their DNA or RNA into the nucleus of the cell. The virus DNA then infuses itself into the host cell's DNA and in a word reprograms the cell to start producing viruses until the cell is filled up with viruses and explodes. The process is then repeated with the surrounding cells. Certain viruses attack certain types of cells and are transmitted by different methods. What I'm hoping to do is use the virus reproduction cycle to treat genetic diseases. The goal of my research is to implant genes that may be defective in a patient's DNA into a virus, inject that virus into the patient, and have the virus replace that faulty gene with a functioning gene. If I can get this procedure perfected we could treat a variety of genetic disorders from diabetes to MS. So far I've been working with DNA viruses with some success. Soon I'll begin to work with RNA viruses. I'm hoping that I'll have better results with those viruses. I hope I didn't confuse you."

"I've heard about what you are doing." Jill said. "From what I've read scientists have been trying to do that for years. So far no one has been able to do it. Also, you must be working with some dangerous diseases. What are you going to do if you have an accident?"

"An outbreak won't be that difficult to contain if one does happen." Alexia said. "All my research is being conducted at a research facility in Antarctica. In case of a virus getting loose it won't be able to get very far."

"Shit." Chris said. "It must have taken you forever to get here."

Alexia nodded. "I've been in a plane ever since yesterday afternoon. I was taken by helicopter to Buenos Aires, and then I got on a commercial flight to Houston and had to wait three hours to board the flight to Denver. As soon as we arrive I'm probably going to go to sleep." Alexia sank down in her seat and draped her arms across the back of the seat. "So tell me a little about yourselves. How did you two get into the S.T.A.R.S.?"

"I used to be a fighter pilot." Chris said. "I wasn't the best but I was good enough. After awhile I got tried of all the military bullshit that went on. Fortunately I knew a guy who was in the S.T.A.R.S. and he got me transferred into the organization. I've been happy here ever since."

"I bet your family must be proud." Alexia said.

Chris let out a gruff laugh. "My mother would be pissed at me. As for my father I don't think he would have given a damn. My parents got divorced back when I was ten. He went off to who knows where. Last I heard he died a few years ago. My mom raised me and my sister Claire by herself. I tried to help out by getting any part-time jobs that I could. A friend of my mother's offered to provide the money for me to go to college. I went for a two year degree in business, hoping that I could break into the business world and get a good job. While I was there I learned about the Air Force. I thought the money I could make would help a lot, but my mom hit the roof when I told her. She tried to get me to quit up until the time she had a stroke and died. Now the only one I have left is my sister. Right now she's in college."

"I feel sorry for you." Alexia said. "What about you Jill?"

"I used to be in the Army." Jill replied. "I believe I was the fourth generation to be in the armed forces. I was groomed for service my whole life. I was in the JROTC in high school and ROTC in college. Because of that I was an officer going in. My parents were thrilled when I made Sergeant. I thought I was going to have a great career, and so did my parents."

"So I bet the S.T.A.R.S. organization heard how good you were and requested you." Alexia said, leaning forward. "I bet the army didn't want to let you go."

Jill shook her head no. "Actually, I got kicked out of the Army for hitting a superior officer."

Alexia sat back in her seat. "Oh."

"I don't regret it. The asshole of a CO had it coming." Jill said. "He kept making sexist comments so one day I just clocked him. For a big man he went down fast. After my discharge my father disowned me. Guess he didn't like having a failed soldier in the family. I haven't talked to any of my family in two years. Fortunately the same friend that got Chris into the S.T.A.R.S. heard about me and got me in too. Chris and I were both sent to the same boot camp and got sent to the Raccoon City branch since we worked so well together."

"So how long have you been with the S.T.A.R.S.?" Alexia asked.

"We spent six months in boot camp and a little over a year in Raccoon." Chris said. "Our unit gets along with the city police and we don't have to go through any red tape like in the military."

"The other guys in our unit are great to work with." Jill added. "They respect me and don't give me any shit because I'm a woman. That's because if they did, I'd knock their teeth out."

Alexia looked at Chris with a shocked look on her face. "Is she always this frank?"

Chris chuckled as he looked at Jill. "Yeah, sometimes a little too much." Chris looked in the mirror at Alexia as Jill huffed and crossed her arms. "So what about you? What was your family like?"

Alexia sighed and began to speak. "You could say I'm following in my family's footsteps. My family is one of the founders of Umbrella. As far back as I can remember I come from a long line of scientists. My father was one of the best scientists Umbrella had. My mother used to assist him in his experiments. I decided to become a researcher as well. I graduated college at the age of twenty. Unfortunately my parents died before that. Now it's only I and my twin brother."

"What happened to your parents?" Chris asked.

"They died in a lab accident when I was seventeen." Alexia replied. "I never knew what he was working on since he never told me. It was some secret project that only a few people knew about. I tried asking about what my father was working on, but no one in the company would tell me. I gave up asking and concentrated on my work. I only hope that this project will serve to uphold my family's reputation and help to improve the medical field."

"I heard that you were important, but I didn't know you were one of the company's founders." Jill said. "You must have a lot of power in Umbrella."

Alexia shook her head. "My family gave up control long ago. The Spencer family runs the corporation now. All I care about is helping people."

* * *

The rest of the trip went by quickly as Jill and Chris told Alexia all about Raccoon City and the S.T.A.R.S. unit. The car slowly pulled into the Spencer mansion, passing through a moss-covered iron gate and stopping in front of the main doors. The mansion was huge and made out of stone. Bright colored leaves were scattered along the sidewalk that lead from the driveway. The car came to a stop as its occupants exited the vehicle. "So he gets up and turns right into her and spills his beer all over her clothes." Chris said, closing his door. "We thought that the waitress was going to kill Joe."

"So what did you do?" Alexia asked as she stepped out of the car.

"We denied that we ever knew him." Jill said, chuckling.

"I see you took your time getting here." A man called out. Everyone turned to see Wesker standing next to his jeep, dressed in his black uniform and his trademark dark shades covering his eyes. "I'm beginning to think that you're exploiting the fact that you get paid by the hour."

"Alexia's flight was late arriving at the airport." Jill replied.

Alexia walked up to Wesker and extended her hand. "You must be Captain Wesker. Your two officers told me all about you."

Wesker smiled at looked at Chris and Jill. "I hope they told you good things about me."

Chris finished removing the last of Alexia's three bags from the trunk and shut it. "We made sure only to hit the highlights. By the way, what are you doing here?"

"First, I was making sure you arrived." Wesker responded, holding up his fingers as he counted. "Second, I decided to visit an old friend." Wesker turned towards Alexia. "Speaking of which, Birkin is very interested to meet you. For the last two days he wouldn't stop talking about you. He personally asked me to send two of my men to pick you up."

"I would like to meet him as well." Alexia said. "Do you know if Dr. Marcus is around?"

Wesker shook his head. "I'm afraid he has some matters to take care of over at the training facility. He's been headmaster of that place ever since it was opened. You'll probably meet him tonight. Shall we?" Wesker began to lead Alexia towards the front door. "Chris, Jill, you might as well come too. It's not every day people can get a tour of the Spencer Estate."

"What about Alexia's bags?" Jill asked.

"Leave them in the main hall." Wesker replied. "Someone will be around to pick them up." Chris and Jill both grabbed Alexia's bags and followed the other two into the house.

The group exited the shed that led to the garden. Chris let out a whistle as he turned back towards the mansion. "I sure wish I had enough money to buy a place like this."

Jill nodded in agreement. "Yeah, our whole team could live in this place, and we'd still have rooms left over."

"This mansion was built to be a resort." Wesker said. "Ah, there they are now." The group saw a family in the small courtyard next to the shed. The father and daughter were playing catch while the mother sat on one of the benches smiling. The parents wore lab coats while the girl was dressed in a pink shirt and blue jeans. "Dr. Birkin, your guest has arrived." The man turned towards Wesker and then motioned for his family. They approached the group with the daughter in the middle. Wesker then made the introductions. "Alexia, this is William Birkin, his wife Annette, and his daughter Sherry."

"It's an honor to finally meet you." William said, extending his hand. "I've heard nothing but great things about you."

Alexia shook his hand. "And I've heard all about you as well. I hear that your research is very important."

"Compared to what you and Marcus are doing, mine seems insignificant." William replied. "By the way, who are these two?" William motioned to Chris and Jill.

"These are the two people who brought Alexia here." Wesker said. "Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. They're two of my best."

"So how do you know Wesker?" Chris asked.

"He used to be a fellow researcher." William answered. "Al and I worked together a long time ago."

"He was very good at his job." Annette added. "But I guess that he just got tired of working behind a microscope all day and decided to become a police officer."

Wesker smiled and took off his glasses. "I managed to become the leader of the S.W.A.T. team. The S.T.A.R.S. organization found out about my record and asked me to form a new S.T.A.R.S. unit. Umbrella convinced them to have me form it in Raccoon City."

"After Wesker left I got transferred to the facility to be William's assistant." Annette said. "After we met we fell in love and got married. Now I'm working with William on his project."

"And let me guess Sherry, you're going to be just like your parents when you grow up." Jill said.

Sherry shook her head. "Nah, I'm going to raise horses. Either that or I'm going to be a vet."

"I guess you like animals." Alexia said.

"I sure do. I want to get a dog, but mom says I can't." Sherry replied.

"I think she can handle the responsibility, but my wife doesn't" William said.

"So, what kind of work are you doing?" Alexia asked. "Maybe you can show me your lab. Where in town is it?"

William pointed at the ground. "Right now we're standing on top if it. And at this moment, we're conducting research on Ebola and other serious diseases in order to try and create vaccines for them."

"You're telling me that your lab is right here?" Chris asked.

William nodded. "The labs are built underground. The mansion serves as a residence for the scientists and other personnel. Due to the risks imposed by our research Umbrella felt that it was better to conduct it in a remote location."

"But what if you have an accident?" Jill asked. "The viruses you're working with could still get into the city."

"In case of a leak the labs are built to be sealed off and contain whatever virus gets loose." Annette replied. "We have several protocols that go into effect if something happens."

"Do you live in the mansion?" Alexia asked.

"No. We have a house in the suburbs." William said. "We only come here to work. The rest of the time we stay at home. We always make sure we have time for our daughter." William patted Sherry on the shoulder. "We either set aside family time, or we bring her with us. I'm a firm believer that work should not come before our daughter."

"Well, I'm sure you'll have a nice stay at the mansion." Wesker said to Alexia. "William will see to it that you have your room and I believe that Dr. Marcus will be arriving here tonight."

William walked over to Alexia and led her back to the shed. "He'll be here for dinner tonight. Now let's get you set up in your room."

Wesker turned to Chris and Jill. "As for you, your job is done. Head back to the office and wait for me there."

"What are going to do?" Jill asked.

"I'm going to make sure everything is all right." Wesker put back on his shades. "And make sure when you get to the office that those slackers are doing their jobs."

"Sure thing Captain." Chris said. "But before we go, do you know where the bathroom is?"

"I'll show them." Annette said. The group then entered the shed.

* * *

Chris and Jill entered the RPD and started towards the S.T.A.R.S. office. As they walked through the west wing waiting room they saw two officers, Leon and Kevin, leaning against a sculpture of a chess piece that was in the middle of the room. "Did you finish taking Mrs. Daisy to the Piggly Wiggly?" Kevin asked mockingly as Leon began to chuckle.

Chris stopped and shot the pair a dirty look. "Very funny guys. At least we do our jobs, unlike the two of you. It seems like every time I see either of you you're just standing around."

"Hey, we do our fair share around here." Leon replied. "In fact, pretty soon you may be looking at the next members of the S.T.A.R.S. team."

"Great." Jill said. "We could always use a few more gofers." Jill laughed as she and Chris left the two cops.

Leon watched them leave the room before turning to Kevin. "I'll show them someday. Just you wait; soon I'll be out of this job and part of that team."

"I'm perfectly happy right where I am." Kevin replied.

"You know what your problem is, you lack motivation." Leon said.

Kevin threw his arms in the air. "It's just that I don't see what's so special about that glorified S.W.A.T. team. If the S.T.A.R.S. are so good, then why dump a unit in this little town?"

"Because this unit is like a training unit." Leon replied. "From what I hear you get put into some small unit like the one here and then after a few years you get sent to the big city units. Everyone knows that."

"Whatever." Kevin said.

"What are you two doing here?" An officer called. Leon and Kevin jumped and turned to see Marvin Branagh staring at them. "You know there's something called work that people around here actually do. I'm sure that concept is too difficult for you to handle, but you better try."

"Sorry Marvin, but we were on our break." Leon said.

"Didn't your break end five minutes ago?" Marvin asked. Realizing he had just set himself up for a smart-ass comment he changed the subject. "Get over to the file room. There are some files that need sorting. The guy who was supposed to do it is sick. After you're finished come see me. And for God's sakes don't slack off."

"Yes sir." Kevin replied. "Come on Leon, let's go." The two men left the waiting room and headed for the file room. "Man, I hate filing reports. I feel like I'm a secretary."

"If that's the case maybe you should start wearing a dress to work." Leon said. Ignoring the dirty look Kevin was giving him Leon rounded the corner and stopped when he saw a man wearing black jeans, a black shirt, and a brown jacket looking at a painting that was hung on the wall. "Holy shit, Ark, is that you?" Leon approached the man who turned and smiled.

"Well if it isn't the great Officer Kennedy." Ark replied. "I've been looking all over this place for you."

Leon slapped his friend on the shoulder. "How have you been? It's been a long time since we got together. What are you doing in Raccoon?"

"Well, for starters I'm doing fine." Ark replied. "Second, I'm here on vacation. I got a little time off from my job and decided to see how my old buddy was doing."

"That's good to hear." Leon said. "Oh, this is my friend Kevin Ryman. He started around the same time I did."

Kevin waved at Ark. "Hi. Hey Leon, I'm going to get started. I don't want to get yelled at again." Kevin entered the file room leaving Leon and Ark in the hall.

"In trouble again Leon?" Ark asked mockingly. "Looks like you haven't changed. So how long have you been in the RPD?"

"For about a year." Leon replied. "Have you been here long?"

"Not really." Ark replied. "When I was looking for you I saw all these statues and paintings all over the place. Pretty fancy for a police station, isn't it."

"This place used to be a museum." Leon said. "From what I heard the police got moved to this building while the city is building a new station in the other part of town. If you ask me most of this art creeps me out."

Ark nodded and looked around. "Listen, I don't want to keep you from doing your job, so why don't we meet somewhere tonight. We can catch up then."

"That would be great." Leon said. "There's a place called J's Bar. We can meet there after my shift. I get off at eight so I'll see you at eight-thirty."

"Sounds good." Ark said. "Well, see you then." Ark headed back for the main entrance as Leon entered the file room.

* * *

"Well if it isn't the taxi service." Forest said as Chris and Jill entered the S.T.A.R.S. office. The rest of the team was going about the usual routines. Joseph was next to Forest reading through reports. Richard was busy going through the weapons locker. Kenneth was at the printer and Enrico as second in command was at Wesker's desk writing a report. Brad was at the radio and Rebecca was too preoccupied reading a book. Unlike Chris and Jill, all of them were in their uniforms. "I need a ride to my house. It's on the corner of Becker and 18th street."

"Stick it Speyer." Chris said.

Forest and Joseph started to laugh. Enrico looked up at Forest with an annoyed look on his face. Brad grumbled something and the rest of the team ignored Forest's comment. Richard walked over to Jill and began to interrogate her. "So what was this Dr. Ashford like? Was she good-looking or did she look like one of those science geeks like my seventh grade biology teacher?"

"Actually she was very pretty." Jill replied. "And she was very nice too. Rebecca would like her. She's a genius who graduated college at twenty."

"Big deal, I graduated college at the top of my class at eighteen." Rebecca said. "I guess she's not that smart."

Joseph placed his hands on his face and acted surprised. "Oh my God, the bookworm has finally spoken. For a minute I thought you were another one of those tacky statues."

Rebecca flipped Joseph the bird. "Sit on this prick."

"Only if you sit on this." Joseph retorted, motioning towards his crotch.

"Both of you knock it off." Enrico said. "This isn't a preschool so act your age."

Both Rebecca and Joseph apologized and went back to what they were doing. Kenneth walked over to Chris and continued the inquiry. "So why are you here? I thought after you dropped that lady off that you two would go home or something."

"I though for sure you would get a motel room." Joseph said.

"Hey, maybe they stopped on the way to the airport and had a little quickie in the back seat." Forest added.

"First of all," Jill said turning to Forest and Joseph, "Our relationship is strictly professional. And secondly we ran into Wesker at the mansion and he said to wait for him here."

"By the way, did you get a tour of the mansion?" Richard asked. "I heard that the place is pretty sweet. It must have taken a nice chunk of change to build that place."

"Believe me, it was." Chris said. "We didn't see the entire mansion, but Spencer put a lot of money into decorating the place. We also got introduced to the Birkins."

Rebecca snapped her head up at the sound of the name. "Do you mean William Birkin, THE William Birkin?"

"You've heard about him?" Chris asked.

"Heard about him, I did my thesis paper of his research." Rebecca replied. "I wish Captain Wesker would have told me to go along."

"If you ask Wesker I'm sure he'll introduce you to Birkin." Jill said. "Turns out Wesker used to be Birkin's assistant." Jill finished her sentence with a bet-you-didn't-know-that tone.

"So, everyone here knows that." Enrico said.

"You did." Jill asked, the wind taken out of her sails. "Why didn't anyone tell us?"

"We didn't think it was important." Kenneth said. "And besides, you never asked us about what Wesker used to do."

Chris groaned and went to sit down at his desk when he saw another person at the next desk. "Oh man. What are you doing here Barry? I thought you had the day off?" Chris walked over to Barry's desk to see his friend filling out reports.

"Hello Chris." Barry replied. "I should ask you the same."

"You know you are married to someone other than your work." Chris said, leaning against Barry's desk. "Shouldn't you be at home with your family?"

"There are too many things that need to be done." Barry said. "Besides, Kathy understands."

Chris let out a huff. "I bet she does. I'm surprised she hasn't divorced you yet. And speaking of work, didn't Wesker tell someone else to do these reports?" Chris slowly turned towards Forest and Joseph.

Joseph put up his hands in defense. "Hey, he insisted on doing them. And I wasn't going to push the issue. The man does have a lot of guns."

"You pussy-ass bitch." Brad said not bothering to turn around.

"Can it Vickers before I stick my foot up your ass." Forest replied.

Brad spun around with a smirk on his face. "Not before I rip yours off and shove it up your ass first."

"This should be good." Richard said. "Too bad we don't have time to sell tickets."

Brad and Joseph were about ready to fight until Edward came storming in covered with grease. Kevin followed him hauling a bag full of tools. Edward made a bee-line straight for Brad. "God damn it Vickers, I told you not to push the helicopter so much. The carburetor is almost shot, I had to replace two belts, and the oil's burned up. And you know what it's because of, your bone-head maneuvers you pull during missions."

Brad switched his attention to Edward and fired back. "Don't give me any shit about my flying. If I took my sweet ass time like Kevin my team would have been dead."

"And what if you get the helicopter blown to hell?" Edwards shot back. "Then everyone would be screwed."

"Maybe we can settle this in a more civilized way." Kevin said, seeing that both men's tempers were about to blow.

"Shut up Kevin!" Both men snapped.

"Take this argument someplace else." Wesker said, entering the office. "This isn't a boxing ring. I swear, I leave you people alone for five minutes and this place starts looking like kindergarten."

"What kept you so long?" Enrico asked as he left Wesker's desk.

"I had a talk with both Dr. Birkin and Dr. Ashford." Wesker said. "They appreciated our help in bringing Dr. Ashford here. It turns out that Umbrella is having a party at the Spencer mansion to welcome Dr. Ashford and we've all been invited. Both Birkin and Ashford are interested in meeting you Rebecca."

Rebecca put down her book and looked at Wesker. "That would be great. How did we get invited anyway?"

Wesker smiled at Chris and Jill. "Apparently these two made quite an impression on Dr. Ashford. It seems that she wants to meet all of us. She also wants to meet your sister Chris. Tell her to come and bring her friends." Chris nodded as Wesker continued. "The party is tomorrow night at six." Wesker then turned towards Rebecca. "I believe Dr. Marcus will be there as well."

"Dr. James Marcus?" Rebecca asked, jumping out of her seat and running up to Wesker. "Are you serious? He's the reason that I got into this field in the first place. I can't believe that I'm actually going to meet him. My classmates from college would be so jealous of me."

"I'm sure he'll be just as excited to meet you." Wesker said. As Rebecca headed back to her desk giggling like a schoolgirl Wesker went to his desk. He stopped when he saw Barry. "Barry, I told you to take the day off."

Barry looked up from his work. "You and I both know that if I'm not here things would never get done."

Wesker sighed. "Listen, I appreciate what you do here, but I believe that family comes before the job. Go home and spend some time with your kids. In fact, I don't want to see you anywhere near here for the rest of the weekend."

"What about the party?" Barry asked.

"If you do go, bring Kathy with you." Wesker said. "As for the rest of you wear something appropriate since this is a formal affair. Now that I've said what I needed to, get back to work. Chris, Jill, you two can go home." Wesker turned to Barry. "Before you leave, I want to talk to you." Barry nodded and followed Wesker into the hall. Chris and Jill both waved goodbye and left the office as everyone else went back to what they were doing.

* * *

Chris entered his house and closed the front door before leaning against it. It was quarter to five and it was starting to get dark. "What a day." Chris said to himself. He closed his eyes and began to relax when he heard a sound coming from upstairs. "What the hell?" He asked himself. It sounded like running water. Knowing no one else should have been in the house Chris drew his gun and slowly made his way up the stairs. He followed the sound to his room and found the bathroom door open. As he entered he saw that someone was in the shower. Readying his gun he quickly yanked open the curtain before just as quickly pulling it closed and backing up against the door accompanied by a scream. "Jesus Christ, I did not need to see that."

"You fucking pervert! Why did you have to do that for?" A female voice shouted from the shower.

"Damn it Claire, what are you doing here?" Chris growled, placing his gun on the sink.

Claire poked her head out from behind the curtain, keeping the rest of her body covered. "Taking a shower, Einstein. You got a good enough look to see that."

"No, I mean what are you doing _here_?" Chris said, emphasizing the last part of the question.

"I decided to pay my brother a visit." Claire said. "And look at the thanks I get. I'll be lucky if I'm not scared for life."

Chris glared at his sister. "How did you get in the house?"

"You gave me a key." Claire replied.

"I want it back." Chris said, leaving the room. "Why the hell could you not have stayed at the campus?"

"I haven't seen you in a while." Claire called from the bathroom. "I though I could have surprised you when you got home tonight."

"Believe me, you did." Chris said. "How long do you plan on staying?"

"Probably the whole weekend." Claire said. "Maybe we can hang out and see a movie. I heard that there are a couple of good movies playing in town."

"Fine." Chris said. Suddenly he remembered something. "Shit!" He said to himself. "Claire, I don't think that it's a good idea for you to stay tonight. I've had a rough day and I'm really tired. Maybe we can do this some other time."

"Why are you in such a rush to get rid of me?" Claire asked. "Don't tell me I'm interrupting something."

"It's not that…" Chris got cut off by the doorbell.

"Who could that be?" Claire asked.

"I'll go see." Chris said. "Don't worry about it." Chris ran out of his room and quickly made his way to the front door. He opened it and found Jill standing outside with an Arby's bag and some pizza boxes.

Jill noticed the panicked look on Chris' face. "What the hell's wrong with you?" Before Chris could answer Jill walked past him and into the living room. "This sure was one hell of a day." Jill set the pizzas on the coffee table and plopped down on the couch. "Who would have expected that we would get invited to some party over at the Spencer place? I have to buy something to wear. I'm going to love seeing you in a tux."

"Uh, Jill now is not a good time…" Chris started to say.

"What do you mean?" Jill asked. "Don't tell me you're going in jeans and a T-shirt. We'll get thrown out for sure."

Chris nervously glanced at the stairs and back at Jill. "I'm not talking about that. I don't think that tonight's a good…"

Jill noticed Chris's actions. "Why are you looking at the stairs?" Jill asked, getting suspicious of Chris's actions. "Is there something going on that you're not telling me?"

"No, no, nothing like that." Chris stuttered. "It's just that, uh, something's come up and, uh, I have to deal with it right now. Maybe you should come back tomorrow."

"Is there something upstairs, or _someone_?" Jill asked, getting up and walking over to Chris.

Chris stood between Jill and the stairs. "Really Jill, it's just that my room is a mess and I was going to clean it up." Chris held his breath to see if Jill bought it.

Jill responded by pushing her way pass him. "Your room is always a mess. Come on, I'll help you clean it up. That way it won't all night."

Chris grabbed Jill by the shoulders and brought his face up close to hers. "My sister is up there. Just leave and come back in an hour. I'll have her gone by then." He said in a low voice.

Jill's face broke into a shocked expression before lighting up into an evil smile. "Well, why didn't you say so? I'll have to say hi to her."

Chris held Jill back and spoke again in the same tone. "Please _do not_ do that. If she finds you here she'll start harping about me and you and I don't want to deal with that."

"Chris, who's at the door?" Claire called from upstairs.

"Just a friend from work." Chris said as he turned Jill around and pushed her towards the door. "She just stopped over to tell me something." He mentally kicked himself for saying 'she'.

"She?" Claire asked. "Now by '_she'_ you wouldn't mean Jill?" Claire came out of her brother's room fully dressed in a light green shirt and red skirt and bounded down the stairs. "Well how are you Jill? What brings you to my brother's house at this time?" She said to the other woman as she approached the pair.

Chris tried to say something but Jill cut him off. "We usually get together every Friday to watch movies and hang out. We alternate between my place and his. The guest has to bring dinner. Sometimes the others come but they were all busy tonight."

"Is that all?" Claire asked, not quite buying Jill's explanation.

"The food's in the living room." Chris replied, pointing to the bags resting on the coffee table. "Since you're here why don't you have some?"

Claire looked back and forth between the food and the others. "Sure, why not?"

"Why didn't you tell me Jill was here?" Claire asked, taking a bite of her Arby's.

"Because then you would start yapping about how we should get together." Chris replied. "I told you already we are just friends. Besides, office romances hardly work most of the time."

"He's right." Jill added. "If we were a couple and this idiot pulled some bone-head stunt that pissed me off I wouldn't be able to work with him without killing him. We both decided that we would just be friends."

"Because neither of you are the other's type." Claire said. "Why don't you try and see. Who knows, maybe you two will hit if off and get married."

"In the time we've known each other if we haven't gotten together by now, we never will." Chris said. "And now to change the subject, I did have something I need to tell you, though I don't know why. Today we had to pick up some scientist for Umbrella and we ended up getting invited to a party at the Spencer mansion, I was told that I could bring you along as well."

Claire's jaw dropped at the name of the mansion. "You mean the Spencer mansion? Sure I'll come. Do you think I could bring some friends?"

"It's OK if you do, just don't bring a lot of them." Chris replied.

"I just know who I'm going to bring." Claire said. "When is it?"

"Tomorrow night at six." Jill said. "It's formal so you'll have to dress up."

Claire jumped up and headed for the stairs. "If that's the case I better get back and tell Eliza and Steve. We'll have to go shopping tomorrow for the party. Thanks Chris."

Chris and Jill watched his sister disappear upstairs. "She sure seems excited about this. I think tomorrow is going to be very interesting."

"Yeah, you and me both." Chris said.

**

* * *

Comments: I'm back with a new fic. It's been a while but I have returned. So far the setting has been set and almost all the characters are in place. In case anyone has a problem with any part of this chapter conflicting with any part of the games' storyline, read the note at the top of the story. This is an AU story so expect things to be different. Next chapter is the big party and more characters will enter the mix. Things start to get interesting so stick around.**

**BTW, if you're wondering I did use the scientific names for the viruses. The Internet is such a wonderful place.**

"_Praise the lord and pass the ammunition, Amen." _From some Vietnam movie.


	2. Good Day, Bad Day

Disclaimer: I do not own any people, places, or things associated at all with any of the Resident Evil games.

Note: This is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE story based off of the Resident Evil universe. Like I said in the last chapter all characters, places, and situations are different. For those fans of the games think of this as one possible way that the events of the Resident Evil storyline could have happened. For those new to the series or who haven't played the games this is not what happens. If you still have problems think of this as an exercise in artistic license and leave it at that. Let's move on.

A Different World: Revelations

By: Striker

Act Two: Good Day, Bad Day

Alexia sat at the large dinning table in the dining room. William and Annette sat across from her enjoying their meals. Alexia had changed into a white dress while the Birkins had changed into dress clothes. The head of the table was vacant as it was reserved for someone else. Alexia took a sip of her wine and began to speak. "Do you know when Dr. Marcus is going to arrive?"

William looked at his watch. "He should have been here by now. He must be busy tonight."

Just then the door to the main hall opened and an old gentleman in a suit walked in. "I'm sorry for being late, but we had some trouble at the training facility." He took off his coat and hung it on the back of the chair at the head of the table before sitting down. "It seems one of the students thought it would be funny to light a trashcan on fire. It got put out but no one is admitting guilt." He looked over at Alexia. "Forgive my rudeness; I am Dr. James Marcus. You can just call me James. You must be Alexia Ashford. I've heard so much about you from my colleagues. I'm honored to finally meet you."

"It's an honor for me as well." Alexia replied. "I've heard of your research. If you don't mind me saying so, it sounds like what you're doing is more centered towards agriculture than medicine."

"I do admit that my research into gene splicing is mostly for genetically enhanced crops," James said, "But through that research we can create crops that will be healthier and more nutritious. Besides, your research relies on my research to succeed."

Alexia nodded and smiled. "I guess you do have a point. However, I must believe that your enhanced vegetables haven't been openly accepted by the food market."

James laughed softly. "Most of the trainees call me "Dr. Franken-fruit". I've found that people are suspicious of things they don't understand. I'm sure popular science fiction is to blame for people's general distrust of modern technology, especially technology that seems foreign to them. I'm sure that several countries have expressed concern over your research as well. I have heard several discussions on talk shows regarding how our research could easily be used to create biological weapons."

"That argument is a hollow one." William said. "First and for most we are in charge of the direction our research takes. I believe I can speak for all of us when I say that there is no way in hell that any of our research would ever be used for those purposes. I would rather die than see my research used to hurt people."

"I'm sure Umbrella has heard all this before." Annette said. "Weapons research of this kind is illegal for good reasons and I know that Spencer and the rest of the heads of this company would be insane enough to even try to make weapons. It's unfortunate that people's fears get in the way of realizing how our work can be used to help so many."

"I tend not to pay attention to any of the criticism I receive for my work." Alexia said. "I knew the possible applications of my work when I began. I specifically told my superiors that my research would not be used for weapons. And furthermore there would be no way that Umbrella could use my research to do that without my knowing."

"I doubt that this company would even try that, or be motivated enough to do that sort of thing." Annette added.

James, who had been sitting quietly during the exchange, spoke in a serious tone. "Greed is always a strong motivation for any evil."

"Excuse me?" William asked, caught off guard by Marcus's comment.

James continued by speaking in a low tone as if he didn't want anyone else to hear. "I'm sure the prospect of creating weapons has a several points crossed the mind of Spencer. The potential profit for weapons technology is great and one I'm sure hasn't been overlooked by the company. The allure of the money and power derived from creating and selling weapons in this day and age is strong, especially when countries are looking for more effective ways to kill."

"Spencer would never sink to the level of making weapons based on our research." Annette said. "It's beneath him."

"It's never beneath a man to give in to his dark desires." James replied dryly. "Lately I have found myself questioning Spencer's motives, as well as the executive board. The company has been showing a lot of attention towards my work even though compared to yours mine is less important. I've also been having the feeling that my actions have been monitored closely."

"Is this the reason for your behavior the past few months?" William asked. He looked over at Alexia, who was confused. "For awhile now James has been acting paranoid for some reason. I believe that his suspicions have no base. Just last week several documents went missing and James starting saying that they were stolen. I believe that they were just misplaced since they were found two days later."

"Did it ever occur to you that those files, which by the way were very important files pertaining to my research, could have been copied and then returned." James shot back in defense. "There would be no way in hell that I would misplace those files." James turned to Alexia. "Tell me, has your research been monitored closely Alexia?"

Alexia thought for a minute. "To tell you the truth the higher ups just leave me alone. About three months ago they asked for a progress report, but since then I haven't had anyone from the executive board contact me. In fact, this meeting was the first time I've even heard anything from the company in a while."

"Then why do you suddenly have to attend this meeting?" James asked.

"What are you implying?" Annette asked.

"If Spencer and the board already knew how far Alexia had come, why did she need to attend this meeting?" James explained. "You and I both know that research like this does not improve overnight. And speaking of this meeting isn't it strange that it was announced so suddenly without any warning. We should have been told about it weeks in advance. For this to be dropped on us without time to prepare is rather odd."

"Maybe our superiors feel that our research can benefit from each other if we discuss our breakthroughs together." William said. "You make this whole thing sound like part of a conspiracy. You may see a problem with this, but I don't."

"Believe what you want, but I still think that something is wrong." James said. "It seems that my appetite has departed me. I'll see you all at the party. Goodnight." James stood up and left the room.

Alexia watched James and turned back to the Birkins. "So much for a pleasant dinner." She said under her breath.

Alexia took a sip of her brandy before putting the glass down on the bar in the mansion's lounge. The conversation at the dinner table still played in her mind. The sound of someone walking up behind her caused her to quickly turn around. She found William standing behind her. "Are things always this lively around here?"

"Please excuse Marcus." William said. "He's been under a lot of pressure these days. I strike his behavior up to his age and watching too many talk shows and science fiction movies. You shouldn't take what he says too seriously, we don't. I just stopped by to say goodnight. I'll be seeing you tomorrow at the party."

"I'm looking forward to seeing your friend and the rest of his team." Alexia said. "I do hope they all choose to come." William nodded and left the lounge. Alexia finished her brandy and left for her room.

* * *

Leon scratched at the label of his beer bottle as he waited for Ark. He had been waiting for several minutes and was getting restless. He was still in his uniform since he had come straight from work. "Come on Ark, where are you?"

"I don't think grumbling about your friend being late is going to make him appear." Leon looked up and saw Cindy staring at him holding a tray. Her waitress uniform was wrinkled and her apron had a ketchup stain. "I'd give him five minutes and then leave."

"I would, but it's been years since I saw him." Leon said. "It'd make me look bad if I ditched him."

"Well whenever he gets his ass in here, let me know." Cindy turned and started walking back towards the bar.

The front door opened and David came in looking exhausted. His plumber's uniform was soaked. He sat at the bar, crossed his arms on the bar, and rested his head on them. "Give me something strong, I need it."

"What the hell happened?" Cindy asked.

David looked up at Cindy. "Water pipe burst in the basement of some restaurant across town. It was like the second Titanic. We almost went down but I managed to bail out. I never want to see that much water in my life ever again."

Leon started to snicker. "Then maybe you shouldn't be a plumber."

"Cute." David said. "I was in water up to my waist. I thought they put in a swimming pool. Good news is I won't have to take a bath tonight."

Cindy frowned and continued. "Thanks for the info." As she headed to the back of the bar a rat ran in front of her. She stopped and watched it before dropping her arms to her side and growling. "I told Mack we had a rat problem, and instead of calling the exterminators he puts a mouse trap in the closet." She turned to Leon and pointed in the direction of the rat. "You have a gun, go shoot it."

Leon turned to David. "You have a wench, go bash it."

David responded by turning to Cindy. "You have all those knives back there. Go hunt it down."

"You guys are useless." Cindy said, annoyed.

David turned back to Leon. "Where's Kevin? You two are always together."

"He said something about going home and crashing." Leon replied.

"He's as lazy as you two." Cindy remarked before heading back to the kitchen.

Leon went back to drinking his beer when Ark entered the bar. He made his way to Leon's table and sat down. "Sorry I'm late. I had a few things I had to do."

"Better late than never." Leon replied. "So how have things been?"

"I can't complain." Ark said. "Things could be better, but that's life for you."

"You never told me what you do." Leon said. "What kind of job do you have? I bet it must be very interesting."

Ark scratched his chin and looked around the bar. "To tell you the truth it's nothing spectacular. I'm an investigator so basically I dig through shit and go on stakeouts. It's not as glamorous as the movies, but hey, it pays the bills."

"So how long is your vacation going to be?" Leon asked.

"Just for another week." Ark replied. "There's this big case I have to get on when I get back. This may be my last chance to get a break since I don't know how long this case will be."

"All I'm going to say is that you could have not picked a better place than this town." Leon said. "The people are nice and the weather is great. I'm sure you'll have a good time."

Cindy walked over to the two men and took out her pad. "I see that your friend has finally showed up. So what do you want to order?" She said dryly.

"What happened to service with a smile?" Ark playfully asked.

Cindy put her right hand on her hip. "I died when I found out I had to pull two shifts. Erin was supposed to be in tonight but she caught the flu. I swear half the city is sick. Pretty soon I may have to run this place by myself."

"In that case I'll make it easy for you." Ark said. "I'll have a BLT and a beer."

"I'll have the usual." Leon added.

"A BLT and beer for you and a burger and fries for you." Cindy finished writing down the order and put the pad and pen in her pockets. "I'll be back with your beer. As for your food, it'll be ready eventually." Cindy walked over to the bar and got a beer from the bartender. She gave it to Ark and headed for the kitchen.

Ark watched her walk off and took a sip of his beer. "So much for the friendly people." He then turned to his friend. "I guess I picked a bad time to come here. This town seems to have an outbreak on its hands."

"Umbrella has been giving out free flu shots because of this." Leon said. "A lot of the guys at the RPD got them."

"Did you get one?" Ark asked.

Leon shook his head. "I had a flu shot last January. I won't need one for another couple months, and besides I feel fine."

"When did they start giving out shots?" Ark asked.

"About a week ago I think." Leon replied. "To tell you the truth I didn't pay attention since I wasn't planning on getting one."

Ark nodded and looked out the windows. "It's funny that people started to get sick around the time Umbrella started giving the flu shots. From what I heard that was when people actually started to get sick. In fact, it would seem the only people who are sick are the ones who got the flu shots to begin with."

"No shit." Leon said. "All a flu shot is is a weak form of the virus that they dump into your bloodstream so you body can make antibodies. I read the little books they have in the doctor's office when I went for my checkup. You make it sound like Umbrella made everyone sick."

"I know about what that company is doing." Ark said. "I've heard all about the research the company is doing with dangerous viruses like AIDS."

"They're trying to find a cure for the disease." Leon said. "Their research could save hundred of people. What are you implying that Umbrella is doing?"

"I'm not accusing them of anything." Ark replied. "All I'm saying is if I had my hands on a stockpile of viruses that I could easily make into weapons; I'd be tempted to go for the easy money. Do you know how much governments would pay for high quality biological weapons? It would be scary if Umbrella did that, and the last time I checked no one was monitoring what they did."

Leon stared at his friend in disbelief. "You sound just like those conspiracy nut-jobs who claim that NASA faked the moon landing and that aliens crashed at Roswell. I think you may be working too hard."

Ark let out a little laugh and took another sip. "I guess it's just the detective in me. I've been in the business for so long that I find myself suspecting the worst in everything. I guess I do sound paranoid."

"As long as you admit it." Leon said. He picked up his beer bottle and raised it. "Here's to my friend Ark and his quest for the truth, no matter how crazy he sounds."

"And here's to my friend Leon." Ark added, raising his bottle. "The laziest person I know who got so far for doing so less." Both men laughed and tapped their bottles together. They then began to talk about the past as they waited for their food to arrive.

* * *

Ark entered his hotel room and threw his jacket on the bed. Without switching on the lights he walked to the wet bar to get a drink. "Did you see your friend?" Ark spun around at the sound of the woman's voice.

"Damn is Ada, why do you have to do that?" Ark growled.

Ada turned on the desk lamp and sat down in a chair that was set in the corner. She was dressed all in black. "It's what I do. I hope you didn't say something you shouldn't have."

Ark opened the wet bar and retrieved a soda. "I didn't tell him anything. I'm not that stupid. All we did was talk about the good old days. He's not that bad of a guy. I'll have to introduce you two."

"Are you trying to be funny?" Ada asked. "Do I have to remind you that this…"

"I know." Ark spat. "You don't have to lecture me on how to do my job. Besides, Leon thinks Umbrella is greatest company in the world. So does everyone else in this city. And since we're on the topic of our jobs, what progress have you made?"

"So far I haven't gotten any information from my contact." Ada replied. "It seems that things have been quiet for the last few weeks. The only thing important that's going on is some meeting between Umbrella's top scientists and some party tomorrow night. I've already been invited, so I'll try to find something out then. For all intensive purposes, I hope we're wrong about this."

"I know what you mean." Ark said. "We'll know soon enough, I can feel it."

* * *

The Spencer Mansion hummed with excitement as guests wandered through the mansion's halls admiring the art and making small-talk. Waiters carried around trays with champagne and hors d'oeuvres. A quartet played in the corner of the main hall while elsewhere soft music was played from a PA system that ran throughout the mansion. On the balcony overlooking the dinning room Wesker, William, and Annette watched the party. The men where wearing tuxes and Annette wore an off-white dress.

"I must say, this is quite a gathering you have here." Wesker said. "From what I see, Umbrella invited some very rich people."

"Most of them are our stakeholders." William said. "The board wants the people who give us money to be happy. That way, our funding doesn't run dry."

Wesker turned to his friend. "I was under the assumption that Spencer was funding the whole project. The company has more than enough money to go around."

"While it's true that Umbrella does have sufficient capital, the company only puts in fifty percent." Annette said. "The rest we must get from second and third parties. One function of this party is to entertain our stakeholders. In addition the party is also for the researchers who work here and their families."

"In other words, it's both for PR and moral." Wesker said.

William nodded in agreement. "Exactly. People tend to function better when they're happy. Not to change the subject, but I haven't seen your team lately. I do hope they are enjoying themselves. They seem like a lively bunch."

Wesker chuckled. "Sometimes they're a little too lively. I'm surprised they haven't caused any trouble yet. It's probably due to the fact that they think I'll kill them if they do anything to embarrass me."

Annette started for the main hall. "Maybe we should find them before they do."

The men followed Annette's lead. Wesker turned to William as they walked. "I'm surprised that Sherry isn't here with you."

"She's over at a friend's house." William replied. "She didn't want to come to some boring party. It's probably best that way since there are no other children here tonight."

The group made their way to the main hall and looked around the room. "There are two of them." Annette said, pointing to Chris and Jill who were waiting by the door. "I wonder what they're doing."

"Chris must be waiting for his sister." Wesker said. "Maybe they know where the others are." The Birkins nodded in agreement and followed Wesker downstairs.

Chris tugged at the collar of his tux. "I hate these things. I feel like I'm being choked."

Jill scratched at the backside of her blue strapless dress. "And my underwear are ridding up my ass. I should have worn boxers."

"I'm surprised you didn't." Chris said. "This is maybe the third time I've seen you in a dress. The rest of the time you're in jeans and T-shirts. I'm starting to think you just go through my closet for your wardrobe."

"I feel more comfortable in those types of clothes." Jill said. "I don't understand how women like Claire can wear that tight shit they sell in Victoria's Secret catalogs. Speaking of which, where is she?"

"She should be here by now." Chris said. "I bet she's trying to get into those tight underwear." Chris glanced towards the door just as his sister and her friends Eliza and Steve walked in. Claire had on a lavender dress that had the back cut down to her waist with straps forming a X across her back. Eliza had on a black dress with a slip running up her right leg to her thigh. Steve had on a tux just like the rest of the men. Chris walked over to his sister and tapped her on the shoulder. "What took you so long?"

"They took too long getting dressed." Steve replied. The young man, ignoring Claire's harsh glare, walked up to Chris and extended his hand.

Chris shook Steve's hand. "Hey Steve, how have you been?"

"Good enough." Steve motioned to the girls. "I managed to survive their all-day shopping spree. We must have hit every store in the state."

"We only went to four shops." Eliza said.

"Why did you have to go shopping?" Chris asked his sister. "Don't you still have your prom dress?"

"First of all this isn't a high school dance." Claire replied. "Secondly all of us wanted to get off campus. Half the people in the dorms are sick. We didn't want to get whatever the hell they had."

"It's supposed to be the flu." Steve said. "Umbrella started giving out flu shots because of it."

"Did any of you get a flu shot?" Chris asked.

Claire shook her head. "Didn't need one. I got one when I went for my checkup before classes started."

"I forgot and Steve was too lazy." Eliza said. "So where's the rest of your friends.

Jill walked over and joined in the conversation. "We don't know. Chris and I have been waiting for you. The last time I saw Wesker he was talking with the Birkins."

"Wow Jill," Claire said in amazement, "This is the first time I ever saw you dressed up like that. Every other time you're wearing my brother's clothes."

"It must be that she's on a date with your brother." Steve added.

Chris covered his face with his hand and groaned. Jill just laughed and shook her head. "We're not on a date or anything. I just decided to keep Chris company."

"I figured it was something like that." Wesker walked up to the group followed by the Birkins. "I'm glad to see you made it."

"Hey Al." Claire said. "This sure is a nice place. I can't wait to look around."

"I'm sure my wife would be glad to give you the tour." William said. "I'm William Birkin. This is my wife Annette. I'm glad to finally meet you."

"My name's Claire." Claire said. "These are my friends Steve and Eliza."

Everyone finished their greetings before Wesker spoke. "I was wondering if you have seen the others."

Jill shook her head. "Not for a while. I think they headed for the east wing."

"We haven't seen Alexia either." Chris said. "I want to introduce her to my sister."

"Alexia should be here in a minute." Annette said. "She's probably upstairs with James talking to some people."

Just then the rest of the S.T.A.R.S. team emerged from the east door. All the men were wearing tuxes and Rebecca was wearing a light green dress. "This is some mansion Umbrella has got here." Enrico said. "I never knew Spencer was such an art collector."

"I wish I owned this place." Forest said.

"We almost got lost." Richard added. "They should have given us a map at the door."

"Maybe I should consider working for Umbrella." Kenneth said. "These researcher jobs do have their perks."

"I'm glad you like the place." William said. "But if you ask me, it's too big for my taste. I prefer a smaller house."

Claire looked at the group. "Where's Barry? I thought he would be here."

"He's at home with his family." Wesker replied. "He didn't feel like coming."

"Do you know where Dr. Marcus is?" Rebecca asked.

"I don't know at the moment." Annette said. She looked around and noticed that everyone's attention was fixed to the top of the main stairs. "I think he's here now."

At the top of the stairs were Alexia Ashford and James Marcus. James was dressed in a tux and Alexia had on a dark red evening gown with white gloves and a ruby choker around her neck. Everyone watched as the two scientists descended the stairs.

Edward let out a whistle. "You said that she was good looking, but damn."

"I wonder if she's single?" Forest asked. Both Joseph and Richard started to snicker.

"Knock it off you two." Enrico said. "Don't embarrass us in front of her."

"You're asking for way too much." Brad said. At that Joseph, Richard, and Forest gave him dirty looks.

Alexia and James approached the group. "I'm glad you all made it." Alexia said. "I've been waiting all night to meet you."

"If you would let me do the honors." Wesker said. He began to introduce the party to Alexia and Marcus. When all introductions were concluded, Wesker motioned towards Rebecca. "Dr. Marcus, this young lady has been eager to meet you for some time."

Rebecca eagerly nodded. "Yeah, you're the reason I studied bio-chemistry in college. I wrote a paper on your work."

James looked and Rebecca and smiled. "I'd love to talk to a fan of my work. Why don't we find someplace less crowded to talk?"

"While you do that, I'll show Claire and her friends around the mansion." Annette said.

"I better go talk to the other guests." Alexia said. "I'll make sure to talk to you all later."

Wesker looked at his watch. "In that case, why don't we meet in the lounge in an hour? I'm sure you can find something to do till then."

Enrico started for the dining room. "In that case, let's get something to eat."

"Good idea, I'm starving." Edward said.

"Jill and I better go with them," Chris said, "Just to keep them out of trouble."

"Good idea." Wesker said. The group split up and went their own separate ways. Wesker and William stayed in the hall. Wesker turned to his friend. "So far the night has gone on perfectly. Everyone seems to be having a good time."

"Too bad tomorrow we actually have to get down to work." William said. "I bet you miss this a little."

"To be honest this was one of the reasons I changed jobs." Wesker replied.

A man accompanied by Ada walked over to Wesker and William and introduced himself. "Hello Wesker, Birkin, my name's John. I was just transferred here from Chicago."

Birkin smiled at the researcher. "I remember who you are. You've been here for several months. You've been very helpful to me and my wife. Umbrella should send more people like you here." He then turned to Ada. She was dressed in a light red dress with a low neck line. "This must be you girlfriend Ada, correct?"

"Actually she's my fiancée." John said. "We're planning to marry come December."

"I'm pleased to here that." William said. "I hope my wife and I are invited?" William turned to Ada. "I hope you have found this evening enjoyable?"

Ada nodded. "We were wondering if you have seen Dr. Marcus. John promised me that I would be able to meet the good doctor."

"I think he went upstairs a short time ago." William replied. "You can ask the other people if they have seen him."

"Thank you." John said. The couple left and ascended the stairs.

"That's very interesting." Rebecca said. "So because of your research, Dr. Ashford is able to do hers?" Rebecca and James were on the second floor of the dining room.

"You'll find that most research in this field is based off each other." James replied. "My researched is also based off other peoples work. In any science all progress is built on what came before it. Someday what I'm doing now will be used by other scientists for their work."

"I know this sounds strange, but can your work be used to splice together DNA from other animals?" Rebecca asked.

James chuckled. "I've been asked that by many of the students at the training school. It could be possible, but I don't think it's something that would be done."

John and Ada walked up to James. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting you, but I have someone who wants to meet you."

"Hello Dr. Marcus, I've heard so much about you from my fiancée." Ada said.

"Hello John." James said. He turned to Ada, his face taking on a stern expression. "Of coarse, John here has told me about you. I've been looking forward to meeting you as well. Excuse me Rebecca, but I need to talk to these people right now. We'll have to get together some other time."

Rebecca nodded. "I'll go catch up with my friends." The young medic walked off, leaving the others alone.

"We have much to discuss." James said. "We should go somewhere private." Ada and John both nodded and followed James out of the room.

* * *

"I never expected that Spencer would invite so many important people to this mansion and not show up." Alexia said. She was in the lounge with the rest of the group. She had spent the last hour taking to the guests and was exhausted. "I wonder why he's not here."

"From what I understand he has important business to take care of in Paris." William replied. "He's not only the founder, but President and CEO. I doubt he could find time to attend this function but I'm sure he sent someone in his place."

"You would at least think that Spencer would show up for that important meeting you're having." Chris said. "It would be like Wesker having us go through a mock mission and then call in sick."

William chuckled and turned to Wesker. "Your man has a good point, though I doubt that would ever happen."

"His intelligence is one of the reasons I have him on the team." Wesker said. "I take great pride in my teams' mental sharpness, even if some of them don't show it half the time."

"I think the Captain just complimented us." Joseph said.

"We're not worthy of his praise." Forest said, starting to bow towards Wesker.

"See what I mean." Wesker said.

Annette looked around the room and walked over to Rebecca. "Rebecca, where's James?"

"Dr. Marcus left to talk to some people." Rebecca said. "I believe their names were John and Ada."

William nodded at the sound of the names. "John asked Al and me earlier where James was. That was an hour ago. I don't know what could be keeping James, unless he went home early."

Rebecca walked over to the piano and started looking over the instrument. "This is a nice piano, where was this bought from?"

"I believe Spencer got it from somewhere in Europe." Annette replied. "I didn't know you played."

"You bet she plays." Kenneth said. "She's very good at it. I think she must have had lessons when she was a kid."

"Would you like to play something?" Annette asked. "It would be nice to have some music for the conversation."

Rebecca was taken by surprise. "Do you really mean it? I can't possible think of touching something that doesn't belong to me."

"I insist." Annette walked over to a bookcase and brought back some sheet music. "I hope you know how to play Moonlight Sonata?"

"Come on Becky, play the song." Richard said.

"Ok." Rebecca took the sheet music and started to play the piece perfectly.

"Why don't you try playing Jill?" Brad asked.

Jill shook her head. "Are you kidding, you know how bad I am at piano. I'd butcher that song."

"So how long is this meeting of yours going to last?" Enrico asked. "If you ask me something like this will take more than a day to get through."

"The meeting will probably go on for several days." William said. "I'm not sure of the actual duration, but it shouldn't be more than a week."

Alexia turned to Claire and her friends, who were next to her at the bar. "So how did you like the mansion? It's nice, but personally I wouldn't want to live here."

"It's better than the dorms we live in." Claire said. "And I for one could live here. I'd have all my friends and my brother live with me, and I'd even have Jill here to keep my brother company." Chris shot his sister a dirty look while some of the guys snickered.

"Claire, I don't know why you and everyone else have to keep insisting that there's something going on between Chris and Jill." Eliza said. "Why is it that a man and a woman can't just be friends these days? I for one think it's immature and stupid to act that way. I have male friends, doesn't mean I'm dating them."

"Yeah, maybe you should drop it." Steve added. "It's getting old."

"And why are you taking Chris's side?" Claire asked.

"Because I don't want to be on you brother's bad side." Steve replied.

"Smart man." Chris said. "Well, I'm heading home. I'll see you guys later."

"Why are you in such a rush to leave?" Joseph asked. "You have tomorrow off so you can stay here all night."

"Joe, if I don't get out of this penguin suit soon I'm going to rip it off." Chris said. He then turned to William "The party was great. Thanks for inviting me."

"It's the least we could do for picking up Alexia." William said. "We should have you and your friends over to our house sometime."

"It's too bad you're leaving." Brad said. He motioned to Joseph, Forest, and Richard. "It'll be hard to keep these morons in line without you."

"I'm sure you'll do a good enough job by yourself." Chris said. "And Claire, behave."

Claire nodded as Chris walked to the door. Jill began to follow him. "I'm heading out as well."

"Why are you leaving?" Edward asked.

"Cause Chris is my ride." Jill said. "Besides, I want to get to sleep early. I finally decided to clean my apartment tomorrow and that'll take all day."

"Is that why you have that dumpster parked under your window?" Richard asked.

"You got it." Jill said. She followed Chris out of the lounge.

* * *

Chris opened the door to his house and walked in followed by Jill. He tossed his suit coat over the banister and undid the collar. "Finally, I can breathe again. I hate it when I have to dress up."

"So do I." Jill said. "I can't wait to get out of these clothes."

"That makes two of us." Chris said. He gave Jill a sly grin which she returned with one of her own. The couple then dashed upstairs to Chris's room.

Chris backed Jill up against the wall, kissing her passionately. Jill began to undo the buttons of Chris's shirt. Chris ripped his shirt off and pulled off his undershirt. He then started kissing Jill's neck as he unzipped the back of Jill's dress and let it fall to the floor.

"I've been waiting all night for this." Jill moaned.

Chris pulled back and looked Jill in the eyes. "How long do you honestly think we can keep this part of our relationship a secret?" He asked as he stroked the side of Jill's face. "They'll find out eventually, and then they'll never leave us alone."

"Let them talk." Jill replied. "It won't change anything between us. Just think of it as everyone getting what they want." Both of them laughed a little before they continued kissing.

* * *

The ringing of the phone woke Chris from his sleep. He groggily looked at the clock, which read eight o'clock. He blindly groped for the phone and found it. "Whoever this is it better be damn important to call me early on my day off."

"Sorry Chris." Barry's voice said from the other end of the line. "I forgot you didn't have to come into the office today."

Chris sighed. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to ask how the party was last night." Barry said. "I would have gone, but I needed to straighten up some things with my family. I'm making the most out of the time off Wesker gave me. It's not that I have any choice. He told the people at the front desk that if they even saw me walk in through the door to send me home."

"That's just great." Chris said dryly. Just then Jill tossed her arm over his side and groaned.

"Who was that?" Barry asked, a little surprised.

"That was just me." Chris said. He let out a similar groan to throw Barry off. Jill sleepily opened her eyes and nudged Chris. He turned to her and she mouthed the words 'who is it'. Chris mouthed back 'Barry'. Jill's eyes widened as she covered her mouth. Chris continued to take to Barry. "Look, I'm still tried so why don't you call back later."

"I guess that's a good idea." Barry said. "I know how you are in the morning. By the way, I just called Jill's house and I got no answer. Do you know where she is?"

"You must have just missed her." Chris said. "I bet she's gone on one of her morning jogs. I don't know how the hell she can get up that early to do that, but you know how much of a heath freak she is. I bet she'd have a nervous breakdown if she gained two pounds." Jill glared at Chris and smacked him hard on the arm. Chris yelped in pain.

"What the hell happened?" Barry asked, concerned for his friend.

"Leg cramp." Chris said, still in pain. "I get them once and a while."

"I know what you mean." Barry said. "Sometimes I get one so bad I jump out of bed and start running around the room. Kathy thinks I'm going nuts when I do. Well, I'll leave you alone. Call me later when you get up."

"I will." Chris said. "Goodbye." Chris hung up the phone and looked at Jill, who still had a pissed off look on her face. "What?"

"I'm a health freak? I'm going to go crazy if I gain weight?" Jill fumed. "The only reason I go jogging every morning is to keep in shape for my job, unlike the rest of you. And I don't see you complaining about how I look."

"I guess you can't take a joke." Chris said. "Listen, I only said that to throw Barry off. He knows that I would never say something like that if you were here. Would you say something bad about Forest or Joseph if they were standing around you?"

"I probably would." Jill said. "But I do get your point. So now what? I doubt either of us will get back to sleep."

Chris had a smirk on his face. "You do have to clean your apartment today. I suggest that you start walking. I'm going back to sleep. I'll stop by tonight and see how everything went. Goodnight."

Jill responded by grabbing a pillow and covering Chris head with it. "Why don't you get up and make me breakfast."

Chris got the pillow off of him and pinned Jill down. "Fine, but I better get a tip." He gave Jill a quick kiss and got out of bed. He put on his robe and left the room while Jill laid in bed laughing to herself.

* * *

Chris turned off the coffee pot and poured himself some coffee. He took a sip and went back to fixing up French toast. He heard the front door open and turned to find his sister staring at him. "Don't you know how to knock?" Chris said, sounding annoyed.

Claire smiled back at her brother. "What ever happened to me being welcome in the house at any time?"

"Not before ten AM." Chris replied. "What are you doing here? Don't you have something better to do?"

Claire walked over to the stove and grabbed one of the French toast pieces Chris had made. "I needed to get out of the dorms. It's like the plague swept through. I can't walk into the bathroom without seeing someone dry heaving over the toilet and my dorm only has public bathrooms. This is the only sterile place I could think of in the city."

Chris pointed towards the front door. "Here's a thought, why don't you go back to the campus, get Eliza, Steve, and the rest of your friends and go to the mall or something?"

"I would but Eliza's writing a paper for one of her classes, Steve doesn't get up on the weekends till two, and my other friends are either sick or have gone home." Claire said. "Not to mention that the stores don't open till noon and it's not even nine yet. Why do you want to get rid of me anyways?"

"I got a wake up call from Barry at eight and I couldn't get back to sleep." Chris said. "Because of that I'm not in a very good mood right now."

Just then Jill walked into the kitchen wearing a bathrobe. "Hey Chris…Claire?"

Claire spun in the direction of Jill and pointed between her and Chris. A devilish grin soon covered her face. "What is she doing here?" Claire asked in an evil tone.

Chris paused while he thought up an excuse. "We thought it would be better if Jill crashed here last night instead of me driving her home and then driving back here. And in case you're wondering she stayed in the guest room."

"What about having to clean her apartment?" Claire added.

"We were going there after we ate breakfast." Jill said. "Chris offered to help me out."

Claire closed her eyes and sighed. "I can't believe you two think I would buy that stupid excuse. I feel insulted that you think I can see through that bullshit." Claire looked back and forth between the couple. "Admit it, I caught you red handed. Just tell me the truth and make it easier on yourselves."

Chris groaned. "You caught us. Yes we have been going out and yes it has been for a while."

"Define 'a while'." Claire said.

"Since we were in boot camp together." Jill said.

"Just do me a favor and don't tell anyone." Chris said. "You're the only other person who can know. If you tell anyone else, they'll never find the body."

"Consider it our little secret." Claire said.

The phone rang and Chris walked over to pick it up. "Now what?" Chris grumbled. He picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Chris, come into the office now." Wesker said. "We have a situation. I can't get into details but it appears that James Marcus has been killed."

Chris was at a loss for words. "I, I'll call the rest of the guys."

"I already called Enrico." Wesker said. "He's calling the rest of Bravo team. I called Barry and he said that he called you this morning. He also told me he called Jill, but she wasn't home."

"Jill's at my place." Chris said. "She just got here a while ago. We'll be there as soon as we can."

"You better hurry up." Wesker said. "Both Ashford and the Birkins are here. Goodbye."

Chris hung up the phone and turned to the women. "Wesker said that Dr. Marcus is dead. He wants us in the office now. Claire, you better go back to the campus." Claire nodded and left the house while Chris and Jill ran upstairs to change.

* * *

Wesker looked over the team and made sure everyone was accounted for. Alexia and the Birkins stood next to Wesker's desk with sorrowful expressions. Wesker cleared his voice before he spoke. "As you are all aware, this morning at seven-thirty a lab assistant found the body of James Marcus dead in his lab. The police have yet to start an investigation, but William Birkin has already expressed insistence that we be involved with the case. Chief Irons should be here soon."

The door to the office opened and Brian Irons walked in. He made his way to Wesker's desk. "I got Dr. Birkin's request. Under normal circumstances I'd be inclined to turn down a request like that, but at this point and time we're a little short-handed. Half the force is out on sick leave due to the flu. To make matters worse we've been getting reports from the local hospitals that several people have become severely ill. The Mayor is worried that there's going to be a panic. Therefore, since your team seems to be fine I have no choice but to turn the investigation over to you. I'll send who I can to assist."

"Thank you Chief." Wesker said. "I appreciate this."

"Just don't expect this to happen next time." Irons said.

Wesker turned to Enrico. "I'll leave the investigation to your team."

"Yes Sir." Enrico said.

Wesker then turned to Joseph and Brad. "Frost, I want you and Vickers to maintain contact with Bravo team. You two will stay here and keep me updated. As for the rest of you, I feel as do Dr. Ashford and Dr. Birkin that their lives may be in danger. There's a possibility that this incident involved someone on the inside. Therefore, I want to place them under guard. Redfield, Valentine, I want you to watch Dr. Ashford. That leaves the Birkins. I understand that Burton will be unable to watch over Dr. Birkin's family due to having a family of his own. Irons, if you could I would like two of your officers to assist us in watching the Birkins."

Irons brought his hand up to his chin and frowned. "I'm a little short of officers. Which ones do you have in mind?"

"Leon Kennedy and Kevin Ryman." Wesker replied. "If I'm correct, Kennedy wants to be a S.T.A.R.S. member and Ryman has met the qualifications but has not chosen to take the exam. This will be a good opportunity to see what they're made of."

"I'll bring them to you right away." Irons said. He turned and left the office.

"Everyone, get to work." Wesker said. Bravo team left the office while Brad and Joseph moved to the radio equipment. Chris and Jill began to leave with Alexia when Wesker stopped them. "I need to talk to you in the hall before you go." Wesker lead Chris and Jill side. "Listen, I know how close you two really are. You may be able to keep this from the others, but I'm disappointed that you think you could keep your relationship a secret from me. I knew Jill was already at your house since I called hers before I called you. In fact, I've seen through all your ploys."

"How long have you known?" Chris asked.

"For a while now." Wesker replied. "I'm only going to say this. It's none of my business what you choose to do in your personal lives, just make sure your relationship doesn't compromise your working relationship. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes Sir." Chris said.

"Then get to work." Wesker said. Chris and Jill left with Alexia towards the main hall.

"Personally, I thought they were a couple the first time I met them." Alexia said to herself as she followed her escorts.

* * *

"I can't believe someone offed the old man." Leon said. He and Kevin were standing in front of the vending machines in the east wing's waiting area.

"He may have had a heart attack." Kevin said. "Anyway, it's none of our business. This is a job for the homicide department. I bet they're excited about this. This is the first murder in how long?"

"Definitely since before we were here." Leon said soberly. He began to stare off into space.

Kevin saw his friend's expression. "What is with you today? Ever since you heard about that doctor's death you've been bummed out."

Leon looked at Kevin. "It's just something someone told me that has me thinking. I'm sure it's nothing, but I have this feeling that something weird is going on."

"It's probably nothing." Kevin said.

"There you are, I have a job for you." Leon and Kevin looked towards Irons as he walked up to them. "Wesker asked me to get you and bring you to the S.T.A.R.S. office. He has a little assignment for you two. He wants you to guard William and Annette Birkin and their daughter."

"You mean we actually get to be part of an S.T.A.R.S. assignment?" Leon asked.

"Exactly." Irons said. "Think of this as an opportunity to prove that you're qualified to be in the S.T.A.R.S.. This might even help you when you take the entrance exam."

"We'll get up there immediately." Leon said. He grabbed Kevin by the arm and pulled him towards the main hall.

"You don't have to drag me." Kevin said, breaking free of Leon's grip. "Why do the S.T.A.R.S. need us for? Don't they have enough people?"

"All I care about is that this is the one break I need to prove that I'm S.T.A.R.S. material." Leon said. The two men continued through the main hall. As they passed the front door a Japanese woman ran up to Kevin.

"Kevin, I need to talk to you." The woman said.

"I'll catch up to you later." Kevin said. "This'll only take a second." Leon nodded and continued on. Kevin turned to the woman. "This is a surprise Yoko, you don't call me for a week and now you pop up here. Where have you been?"

"That's not important." Yoko said. She looked around the room like she was searching for someone. "I just think it would be a good idea if we left town for a little bit."

"Why do you want to leave town?" Kevin asked. "Is this about Dr. Marcus getting killed? Don't tell me you're worried that your life's in danger because you work for Umbrella? I'm sure you'll be perfectly fine."

Yoko looked Kevin right in the eye. "I can't explain it but we need to leave now. I know this is out of the blue but trust me."

"Why don't you tell me what the hell you're talking about?" Kevin said. "We've been going out for the last six months; I think you can tell me anything."

"You wouldn't believe me if I did." Yoko said. "Are you wouldn't want anything to do with me if you knew."

"I'll be the judge of that." Kevin said. "Anyway, we have to talk later. I have something I have to do. I'll call you tonight, ok." Kevin ran off in the direction of the S.T.A.R.S. office leaving Yoko behind.

"It may be too late by then." Yoko said before she ran out of the RPD.

* * *

**Comments: A little intrigue as the plot thickens. Looks like someone is having doubts and suspicions about Umbrella. Why are Ark and Ada in Raccoon for and what do they know? What is Ada's connection to James Marcus? What does Marcus seem to suspect and could that have led to his death? Why did Umbrella summon Alexia to Raccoon and hold an unexpected meeting? What is Yoko so paranoid about? Things are starting to get interesting as we move on to the third chapter. Expect more questions and little answers. Until next time, see ya!**

_Character A: "How many guns do you have strapped to your body?"_

_Character B: "Not enough."_

Original


	3. Calm Before the Storm

Disclaimer: I do not own any people, places, or things associated at all with any of the Resident Evil games.

Note: This is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE story based off of the Resident Evil universe. For those of you keeping track the storyline of this story is _very _different from the game's storyline. I've seen other authors who have done the same thing and wrote their own interpretation of what they thought happened in the game. With that said, let's keep this puppy movin'.

A Different World: Revelations

By: Striker

Act Three: Calm Before the Storm

Jill took a bottle of water out of the fridge and opened it. She took a sip and walked to the living room. She, Chris, and Alexia were at Chris's house. Chris was looking out the living room window, his gun strapped to his waist. Alexia sat on the couch glued to the TV. She was watching a special news broadcast about the flu epidemic. The newscaster shuffled the papers in front of him before he began. _"The flu outbreak affecting Raccoon City has taken on a severe twist. Hospitals across the city have reports of people becoming seriously ill. Several individuals have already died due to this illness. Doctors feel that what began as the flu has mutated into something else entirely different. Doctors have as yet been unable to treat the disease and expect many more casualties. Researchers from the CDC have been summoned and talks of a quarantine of the city limits are being discussed. In other breaking news the police have been receiving reports from people living near the Arklay Mountains of strange creatures. Contact with most of these individuals who made the reports were lost shortly after. In addition, several people have been attacked and injured by individuals that have gone insane. Reports have been similar, with the assailants moving in an erratic manner and moaning. Police at this time have no comment and are having difficulty investigating due to having half the RPD out sick. Stay tune for more updates as they happen."_

Alexia was curled into a ball on the couch with a frightened expression on her face. "What is going on here?" She asked, more to herself than her guards. "Maybe he was right, maybe James was right about it all?"

"What was he right about?" Jill asked as she sat down next to Alexia.

Alexia turned to the other woman. "James told me he was worried that Umbrella was using our research to make biological weapons. I'm starting to think he was right and that was why he was killed."

"I don't know what he might have said, but I don't think this is some evil plot my Umbrella." Jill said. "Umbrella is probably working just as hard as everyone else involved with this outbreak to find out how to stop it. I don't think Marcus's death has anything to do with what's going on in the city. If you ask me, it's just a big coincidence. What do you think Chris?"

Chris continued to look out the window. "Jill's right about this outbreak not having anything to do with Dr. Marcus, but something weird if definitely going on. Someone killed Marcus for a reason, we just don't know why. Whatever the case, we won't let anything happen to you." Chris looked at Alexia with a stern look on his face. "Trust me on that."

Alexia forced a smile. "Thank you, I feel a little better. It must be my nerves. The shock of James's death must have gotten my imagination going. I must sound crazy."

Jill placed her hand on Alexia's shoulder. "I'm sure there are people who sound even crazier than you. I bet there's some person running around claiming that aliens released this disease as part of their plan to take over the world." All three people laughed a little at Jill's last comment, even though they were secretly scared.

* * *

Kevin turned off the TV and dropped the remote on the couch. "No wonder Yoko wanted to leave Dodge. Have you even seen anything as messed up as this?" Kevin and Leon were at the Birkin's house. Annette was cooking dinner while Sherry was on the computer. William was with Leon and Kevin in the living room.

"I'm not as worried about the super flu as I am about the maniacs running around attacking people." Leon said. "What could be wrong with them?"

"Illness induced dementia." William replied. "I've heard of it before. Their temperature must be so high that they have gone insane. First James is killed, and now this. I wonder just what is going on in this town."

"You shouldn't worry about the Dr. Marcus murder." Leon said. "The S.T.A.R.S. team will get to the bottom of this and find out who killed him in no time. Until then, you're safe with us, right Kev."

"Whatever you say Leon." Kevin replied. He looked down at his cell phone. "Yoko, I just hope you call me soon." He said to himself.

* * *

"Sir, Bravo team is reporting in." Brad said. He and Joseph were huddled around the radio equipment.

Wesker walked over to his men and took the mike. "This is Wesker. What do you have to report Marini?"

Enrico looked around the lab were Marcus was found dead and gave his report. "So far we have nothing. The guys from forensics swept the area and came up with nothing. No hair fibers, no fingerprints, not even a single footprint. Whoever did this was a pro. The killer left no evidence."

"What was the cause of death?" Wesker asked.

"Two gunshot wounds to the upper chest at close range." Enrico replied. "Marcus must have known the person. There are no signs of forced entry and no signs of resistance from the good doctor. We figure the murderer walked up behind Marcus, Marcus turned around, and gets shot. The poor man never saw it coming. We already interviewed everyone who was here, but they all have alibis. If anything, we're at a dead end."

Wesker sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Report back to the office in one hour. Find out whatever you can. We need to find out who was responsible."

"Will do Captain." Enrico's voice crackled through the radio. "Over and out."

"What do you think we'll do?" Joseph asked. "From what Enrico said we have nothing. Not to mention that the entire city is going to hell with this damn bug going around. First it was the flu, and now it's something different."

Brad looked at his Captain. "Too bad we don't have any leads we could follow. There must be someone who knows something."

Wesker walked back towards his desk. "Actually I know of two people who may have the information we need. If only we could get in contact with them we may be able to figure out why Dr. Marcus was killed."

* * *

A loud knock came from the Birkin's front door. Sherry, who was still on the computer, got out of her seat and ran to the door. "I got it." She opened the door and found Ark and Ada standing outside. "Who are you people?" Sherry asked.

"Is someone by the name of Leon here?" Ark asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Sherry retorted. She looked at Ada as if she recognized her. "Hey, I know who you are. You're the girlfriend of one of my dad's friends. What are you doing here?"

"Please, we need to talk to Mr. Kennedy and you parents." Ada said. "It's important."

Annette walked over to the front door and saw the visitors. "Ada, what a pleasant surprise." She saw Ark and became confused. "Who is that man, and where is John?"

Ark stepped past Sherry and walked up to Annette, followed by Ada. "Please Mrs. Birkin; I need to talk to my friend Leon. Ada and I are partners and we really have to talk to all of you."

"Everyone's in the living room." Annette said. "Follow me." She led the two followed by her daughter to the living room. "Honey, Ada is here along with a man who says he's a friend of Leon."

Leon looked over at Ark. "Ark, why are you here? And who's the woman?"

Ark closed his eyes and sighed. "We know we're going against orders but we feel that we have no choice. Ada and I both work for the United States Government, more specifically the CIA."

"You two are from the CIA?" Kevin asked, still seated on the couch. "I know I'm going to regret asking, but why are you here?"

"We believe that Umbrella is creating biological weapons based on the research of William and Annette Birkin." Ada said. "We believe that this is being conducted at the labs underneath the Spencer Estate."

"Who's making what in where?" Sherry asked. "This sounds like a plot from one of the video games my friends and I play."

"This sounds more like a bad Bond movie." Kevin groaned.

William glared at both Ark and Ada, his face red with anger. "How dare you suggest that my wife and I have anything to do with the creation of biological weapons or that Umbrella itself is responsible. We're trying to find cures for diseases, not make our own."

"That's the kicker of the whole deal." Ark said. "Umbrella is doing this behind your back, taking your research and applying it to their own project. Umbrella knows that you would never go along with this, so you've been kept in the dark. Somehow, we think Umbrella made some kind of super Ebola and used the flu shots they gave out for free as a way to inject test subjects with their little creation. There was no flu epidemic going around, it was a scare tactic used to provide research material."

"So this was what you were talking about the other day." Leon said. "Do you know how ridiculous this sounds? No one is going to believe you."

"If you know that Umbrella made this virus, then why don't you just take a sample of it from one of the infected people?" Annette said.

Ada shook her head. "It's not that simple. Umbrella would be able to deny that they made it, even if we got a sample of it. What we need is hard evidence that links Umbrella to the creation of the virus. We were going to get it too, but things got complicated. We each had different assignments. Ark was to go around the city and find out if any unusual incidences were occurring. My part of the assignment was deep cover. My contact within Umbrella was John. We posed as a couple so that I could get inside. Unfortunately John didn't have access to the files we needed. That was when he made an arrangement with James Marcus. Dr. Marcus found out about Umbrella's plans and agreed to give John evidence that he could then give to me. Umbrella found out and killed Marcus."

"That was why you wanted to talk to him at the party last night." William said. "I'm sorry, but it looks like you fell for James's paranoia. The man had been acting erratic for weeks. You and John probably aggravated it. And your suggestion that Umbrella had something to do with his murder is unbelievable. I can't believe I'm even listening to this."

Annette looked at her husband and then at Ada. "Tell me this; what does Alexia have to do with this conspiracy?"

"We have no idea why Alexia is here." Ark said. "But we do know this."

"The lives of you, your husband, and your daughter are in danger." Ada finished.

"Why?" Leon asked.

"Umbrella may fear that the Birkins may find out." Ada replied. "If Umbrella is able to make their weapons now, there would be no further need for William or his wife. They would be killed to prevent them from finding out the company's secrets. Umbrella would make it look like a lab accident."

"I've had enough of this. I…" William was cut off by the sound of the phone. He walked into the kitchen and picked up the receiver. "Hello? Oh, I'm fine. What? You want us to come to the mansion? Yes, I remember the meeting. I understand. I know that James's loss is a blow to this company. Yes, we'll be there. No, Alexia isn't here with me. I'll pick her up. I'll see you soon. Bye." William hung up and headed back to the living room. "I just got a call from my supervisor; we're to continue with the meeting. Annette and I are going to the mansion and will pick up Alexia on the way."

Annette saw the determination in her husbands face to get out of the house. "I believe that we should go. What are we going to do with Sherry?"

"I'll take her with me to the RPD." Leon said. "Is that ok with you kid?"

"Sure, I always wanted to go there." Sherry said. "And don't call me kid."

"Ada and I will go with you as well." Ark said. "We have to tell the Chief of Police as well as the Captain of the S.T.A.R.S.."

"You walk into the RPD spouting that bullshit of yours and you'll both get thrown into a padded cell." Kevin said.

"I don't think I can change your mind?" Ada asked, following William.

William put on his coat and turned to Ada. "No, you can't. Goodbye." William and Annette left their house, leaving Ada standing in the doorway.

* * *

Chris walked down the stairs and into the living room. It was getting dark, like it always did around five in October. Alexia was still sitting on the couch watching TV. Chris walked over to her. "I got the guest room ready for you. I doubt that you're going to be leaving anytime soon."

Alexia looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you. What about you two?"

"Jill's going to take my room." Chris replied. "I'll sleep on the couch." Chris saw Alexia arched her eyebrow. "Since this is business, we decided to act professionally." Chris looked quickly around the room. "Where is Jill?"

Alexia pointed at the kitchen. "She said something about cooking dinner."

Chris chuckled. "Don't expect anything too fancy. Jill's idea of cooking is something that can be thrown in the microwave."

"Screw you Chris." Came Jill's voice from the kitchen. "This is how I live."

"Whatever." Chris said. He was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Must be Wesker coming to check up on us." Chris walked to the front door and opened it. He was surprised to see William and Annette standing outside. William looked very angry. "Hey, didn't expect you to be here. Aren't you supposed to be home? I thought that Wesker didn't want you running around?"

"We've been called to the Spencer Mansion." William replied. "We're going to carry on with the meeting. I've been asked to get Alexia."

Alexia walked over to the door. "We're still having that meeting, even when we don't know who killed James?"

"Yes, our superiors believe that our work is too valuable to let Marcus's death affect it." William said. "By carrying out our work, we can show whoever killed James that we won't be intimidated or frightened."

"Do you want us to come with you?" Chris asked.

Annette shook her head. "That won't be necessary. We'll be safe at the mansion."

"What's going on here?" Jill asked as she walked out of the kitchen. She noticed the angry expression on William's face. "What are you so pissed off about?"

"I'd rather not discuss it." William said. "Come Alexia, we don't want to be late."

Alexia nodded and turned to Chris and Jill. "Thank you for what you've done. I'm sure everything will be fine. Hopefully you and your friends can find out who killed James and why. We'll call Wesker when we get to the mansion."

Chris let out a huff. "Jill and I will head back to the office and report in. What are you going to do with Sherry?"

"Leon and Kevin took her to the police station." Annette said. "Thank you, but we must get going."

Alexia and the Birkins left Chris's house and drove off. Chris turned to Jill. "We better tell Wesker. I bet he won't be pleased about this."

* * *

"Do you know how insane you sound?" Irons said. He and Wesker were in his office with Ada and Ark. "Making these kinds of allegations without proof could get you sued. Not to mention that this whole thing about Umbrella infecting people with some disease they made is just crazy."

"Believe me, I wish we were making this up." Ark said. "But how do you explain this mystery disease that started right after people got flu shots given out by Umbrella. And how do you explain Dr. Marcus's strange behavior right before he was killed."

""Something is going on." Ada added. "We both believe that Umbrella is behind this and that the lives of William and Annette Birkin are in danger. I would have proof of this but Dr. Marcus was killed before he could give it to me."

Irons looked over at Wesker. "Do you believe any of this crap?"

Wesker removed his shades and rubbed his eyes. "It's quite possible that they could be right on some things. An individual or group of individuals may be looking to steal both Marcus and Birkin's research and sell it to a rival company who would try to make weapons with it. They must have killed Marcus to silence him when he found out." Wesker put on his shades and turned to Ada and Ark. "But the whole idea that the entire company is involved and that they have deliberately infected the citizens of Raccoon City sounds too ridiculous to be true. Still, I am worried about William and the others. I'm heading back to the office and wait for William to call."

"Fine, I'll continue my little talk with these people." Irons said.

As Wesker walked past Ada she grabbed his arm. "I hope for all our sakes that you're correct and we're wrong."

"I hope we're both wrong." Wesker said. "I don't want to think what would happen if any of their research was used to make a biological weapon of any kind." With that he walked out of Iron's office and into the main hall.

Leon stood outside Iron's office with Kevin and Sherry. He saw Wesker come through the door and walk towards him. "I guess you didn't believe them either."

"What they had to tell us was difficult to believe, even if they did have proof." Wesker replied. "We will find out the truth, and it probably will be something other than the conspiracy that your friend and his partner told us."

"Will my mom and dad be ok?" Sherry asked.

Wesker looked at the young teen and gave her a reassuring smile. "I bet you father will call soon." He then turned his attention to the officers. "Watch her and don't let anything happen to her."

Leon nodded, as did Kevin. "We will Sir." Leon watched Wesker turn and leave the hall. "This is one fine screwed-up mess we're in, isn't it?"

"You got that right." Kevin said. "I didn't know your friend was involved in crazy stuff like this." Just then Kevin's cell phone rang. He retrieved it from his pocket and answered. "Hello?"

"Kevin, I don't have a lot of time to talk, but I need to meet you tonight." Yoko's voice said. "Meet me at eleven at J's bar. It's time I told you everything."

"Why don't you tell me now?" Kevin asked.

"I don't have time." Yoko replied. "I have to go, please be there." The line went dead before Kevin could say anything else.

"What was that all about?" Leon asked.

"I don't know, but I'll find out tonight." Kevin replied.

* * *

Wesker sat in his chair and waited for Enrico to finish his report. "So you're telling me you have nothing."

"That's about it." Enrico said. "We have no leads and no suspect. We've hit a dead end." Enrico and the rest of Bravo team had recently arrived from the Umbrella training facility. They had made no progress with the investigation.

"Looks like this is going to be one of those cold cases." Forest said.

"This sounds like something I'd watch on _Unsolved Mysteries._" Joseph said.

"You're telling me you found nothing?" Jill asked Kenneth.

Kenneth nodded. "It was like someone paid a professional hitman to kill him. The old man must have pissed off the wrong person."

Chris was over in the corner talking to Rebecca. The medic was crushed ever since she found out about Marcus's murder. "He told me he wanted to talk with me some more. Who would want to kill him? What did he do wrong?"

Chris placed his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure we'll find out who killed him. In fact, I want to know what's going on with this city. Everything seems to be going to hell."

Meanwhile Wesker was deep in thought. "What if what those people said were to be true?"

"Excuse me Sir?" Enrico asked a little confused.

"The people I was talking to in Iron's office." Wesker replied. "They said that Umbrella is behind everything that's going on. Marcus's murder, the disease going around Raccoon, the sightings of strange creatures, it's possible that they could be telling the truth. Maybe everything is connected, but without proof it's their word against Umbrella."

"That does sound like a load of shit." Enrico said. "I think those two should be thrown in an asylum."

"You have a point." Wesker said. "However, we should try to keep an open mind." The sound of the phone caught Wesker's attention. "That should be William." Wesker picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Wesker, is that you?" It was William, but his voice was filled with panic. "If that is you get over to the mansion now. Something horrible is going on and I don't…" William never finished the sentence because the line went dead.

"William!" Wesker said. "William, are you still there?" Wesker quickly hung up the phone and looked at Enrico. "Something's happened at the Spencer mansion. William sounded like he was in trouble. Enrico, take Bravo team there and report back. Alpha team will be on standby if you run into trouble."

Enrico saluted Wesker. "Yes Sir. Bravo team, assemble on the helipad now." The rest of Bravo team ran out of the office. Enrico turned to Wesker as he was about to leave. "What do you think happened?"

Wesker shook his head, a worried look on his face. "I don't know, but it doesn't sound good. Get there as fast as you can." Enrico ran out of the office as Wesker looked at the remaining team members. They all had worries looks as well. "William, hold on. We're coming to get you."

* * *

Kevin looked out over the forest as it zoomed past. He checked the heading and turned to Enrico, who was sitting next to him. "We should be nearing the mansion now. A few more minutes and we should see it. There it is" Kevin pointed to the mansion in the distance.

"Good. The sooner we get there the sooner we can find out what the hell happened." Enrico said. He turned to the rest of the team. "The minute we set down I want all of you to stay sharp. There's no telling what the situation is. Be ready for anything."

Everyone nodded and readied their weapons. Forest looked out the window and stared at the trees. Suddenly he saw a flash and an object heading for the copter. "Shit, we have something inbound on our left! I think someone just shot a rocket at us!"

"Evasive maneuvers!" Enrico ordered. Kevin turned sharply to the right and then back to the left. The object stayed on the copter and hit the rear rotor. Kevin fought the stick to maintain control of the craft. "Kevin, land this thing, everyone else, brace for impact!" Enrico grabbed the radio receiver and called the office. "We're going down, repeat, going down! We're maybe a mile from the mansion and loosing altitude! We're going to crash!" The helicopter hit the ground and skidded along the forest floor. The control panel started to spark as smoke blew out from the engine as the copter grinded to a halt in a clearing. Enrico looked around the copter. "Everyone all right?" Everyone replied with grunts and hand gestures. Enrico turned to the radio to find it ruined. "Great. OK team, exit the copter and fan out. Once we're ready we'll head towards the mansion. We can't be that far away from it."

Everyone got out with the exception of Kevin. "Sir, my seatbelt is stuck. I can't get free."

"You'll have to cut yourself loose." Enrico said. He hopped out of the copter and joined the rest of the team.

Forest whistled as he looked at the blown-off tail. "We're not getting out this way."

"What the hell happened Forest?" Richard asked. "You said you saw someone shoot a rocket at us?"

"I saw a flash and then the rocket." Forest replied.

Kenneth looked around the woods. "Who in their right mind would shoot a rocket at us? For that matter, why would anyone have something like that out here to begin with?"

"I don't know, but we better head for that mansion." Enrico ordered. "Alpha team will probably come after us if they got my transmission. Let's get a more on…" Enrico was cut off by the sounds of growling and movement heading their way. Suddenly several dogs burst from the brush and rushed the team.

"Where the hell did these things come from?" Richard yelled as he dodged one.

"I don't know but they aren't friendly." Enrico said. "Open fire." The team began to shoot at the dogs. The dogs dodged some of the shots, but some got hit. However, the ones that did get shoot got back up and kept attacking.

"What is with these things?" Edward said. "It's like they're not even feeling the bullets."

Rebecca fired at one dogs. She stared at the beast as it started to get back up. "Am I crazy, or do these animals look to be decaying?"

One of the dogs leapt at Forest, who caught it with his assault rifle and held it back. "Damn, your right. These things are missing their skin, and they smell bad." He shoved the dog back and fired at close range as it crashed to the ground.

Enrico fired at a dog when he noticed one going for the helicopter. "Shit, Kevin!" He was too late as the dog jumped into the open door and rushed up to Kevin. The pilot turned and screamed as the dog bit his neck, tearing his throat out. "Everyone, split up and head for the mansion. Maybe we can divide this pack in the process! Forest, Richard, you two are together! Rebecca, Edward, you're together! Kenneth, with me! Now move!" The team split up and ran in different directions. Like Enrico hoped the dogs split up and followed the groups into the woods.

* * *

Rebecca and Edward ran as fast as they could. Only one dog had followed them, and it was right on their heels. Edward fired blindly behind him at the charging beast. "These things are persistent. Do you think they have rabies?"

"Since when does rabies to that to an animal?" Rebecca managed to get out during deep breaths. She glanced back and aimed her gun. She fired three rounds. The first two missed, but the third smacked the dog in its front-right leg. The dog collapsed face-first and rolled along the ground. Edward took the opportunity to stop, turn, and shoot the dog several more times.

Edward watched the dog spasm and die. "Nice shot Becky."

Rebecca looked down at the now dead dog. She took a deep breath and looked around the woods. Her eyes came upon an overturned jeep. "Look, over there. It's a vehicle. We better check it out." The two approached the jeep and looked it over. Rebecca walked to the front and kneeled down to get a better look. She found two MPs. One had his throat torn out and the other was crushed under the jeep. "Looks like we weren't the first people those dogs got."

Edward joined her and looked at the men. "Seems like they were just killed a few hours ago. Poor bastards must have overturned their jeep trying to outrun them."

Rebecca nodded. As she stood up she heard another growl from behind. She spun around and found another dog staring at her. She stepped back to draw her gun and tripped on a branch. Seeing her fall down the dog ran towards her. Edward aimed his gun and pulled the trigger. All he heard was a click.

"Damn, I must have used up all my bullets on the last dog." Edward groaned.

The dog leapt at Rebecca. The medic raised her hand in front of her and closed her eyes. As the dog was about to come down on her a gunshot rang out. The dog was hit from the side and was knocked out of the air. It hit the ground and struggled to get up. Another gunshot put it down for good.

"I was wondering where that mutt went to?"

"Who the hell is that?" Edward asked, scanning the area.

"That would be me." A man said, stepping out from the shadows.

Rebecca got up and aimed her gun at the man. "Who are you?"

The man straightened up and saluted. "Billy Coen, Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corp. Serial number…"

"That's all we need to know." Edward said. "How did you get here?"

"I was on the jeep with the MPs." Billy said. "We got attacked by that dog and the vehicle flipped while we tried to get away. I jumped off and got knocked out. When I came too I didn't know if that monster was still around so I was waiting for it."

Edward pointed his gun at Billy. "If you were traveling with those MPs, you must be a prisoner."

Billy raised his hands in front of himself. "You got it all wrong. I was being escorted to a military tribunal. I'm the star witness in a murder trial. I was part of a unit in Africa. We were suppose to attack an enemy base but came upon a village instead. My superior officer decided that since most of our unit died on the way there we might as well kill the villagers. The rest of us didn't go along with the idea. Our CO snapped and started shooting everybody and killed one of his own men. The rest of us restrained him and got out of there. He was charged with murdering around twenty people, including a marine. Since the guy had friends in high places, all us witnesses were put into protective custody. Funny thing is I don't think I'll be making the hearing."

"Thanks for helping me back there." Rebecca said. "It's not safe out here. Our team was attacked by more of these dogs. We split up and are going to meet up at a mansion a short distance from here. You better tag along; we may need your help."

Billy looked around and then stepped forward. "Looks like I have no choice, that's if I want to live. I'll go with you. Just one thing, why is there a mansion in the middle of the woods and why are you going there?"

"We'll explain on the way there." Edward said. "Let's go." The three people headed towards the direction of the Spencer Mansion to meet with the others.

* * *

"Bravo team, are you there? Bravo team?" Brad sighed and turned to Wesker. "I can't get anything Captain. The radio in the copter must have been damaged in the landing."

"What are we going to do?" Barry asked.

Jill fiddled with her beret. "First that phone call from the mansion and now Bravo's helicopter goes down. Anyone else getting freaked out by this?"

Chris nodded in approval. "This has to be more than a coincidence. This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder. First Dr. Marcus gets killed, then the shit on the news, then that little call from Dr. Birkin, and now Bravo's copter. This can not be a good sign."

"We can't sit here waiting." Wesker said. "William sounded like he was in trouble, and Bravo team may be in a more serious one. I want everyone ready to go in thirty minutes. We're going in."

The rest of the team sprung into action as they got ready to go after their friends. None of them knew just what they were going to get in to.

* * *

**Comments: Third chapter is done. Only one chapter left and it's all action. Expect it to be much longer than this one. In the final chapter all questions will be answered and everything will be made clear. It'll be fun, trust me. Anyway, I hope you all like this so far. I'll see you around.**

_Character A: We're all going to die!_

_Character B: Oh well._

_Original_


	4. House of Evil

Disclaimer: I do not own any people, places, or things associated at all with any of the Resident Evil games.

Note: This is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE story based off of the Resident Evil universe. This is a DIFFERENT way the story could happen. For you RE diehards who will probably chastise me for doing this, it's only a story. If people can parody this series, then I can do this. And now, the conclusion.

Additional note: The layouts of the mansion, residence and lab are from the Remake of Resident Evil. The layout of the courtyard is from the original.

A Different World: Revelations

By: Striker

Act Four: House of Evil:

Alpha team's helicopter flew over the woods. Everyone was scanning the ground looking for Bravo's copter. Wesker was sitting next to Brad in the cockpit. Chris was looking out the right side of the copter with Joseph. Jill and Barry had the left side. Brad passed the copter's searchlight over the trees. Wesker turned to the back. "Do you see anything Chris?"

"No Captain, I don't." Chris replied. He continued searching the woods.

Jill was beginning to loose hope when she saw a trail of smoke in the distance. "I see something! It's smoke, about ten o'clock. It must be from Bravo team's helicopter."

Brad moved the searchlight in the direction Jill indicated. "That's the copter alright. I'm landing next to it." Brad moved toward the wreak.

"What do you think happened?" Joseph asked. "Maybe the engine blew?"

Wesker shook his head. "Edward and Kevin checked the helicopters the other day. They didn't find anything wrong. It must have been something else."

"I hope everyone is ok." Barry said.

"So do I." Chris added. "I've seen aircraft crashes before. They're not a pretty sight."

The helicopter landed a few feet from Bravo's helicopter and everyone except Brad exited. "Stay here and wait for us Brad. Everyone else check out the situation." Wesker ordered. "We'll see if anyone is still here. If we don't find any survivors we'll search the area. This place is not that far from the Spencer mansion. After we sweep the area we'll head there."

"For all we know Enrico and the others are waiting for us in that place." Barry said.

"One can only hope." Wesker replied. "Now move out."

The team approached the downed copter. Chris was the first to notice the damage to the tail. "Captain, you can cross engine trouble off your list. Bravo was shot down." Chris pointed to the blown-off tail section.

Joseph looked at the copter and turned to Chris. "Yeah right, who would have done that? Maybe it cracked off during the crash. It's probably around here somewhere."

"I know what a hit from an anti-aircraft rocket looks like." Chris said. "I was in the Air Force."

Barry scratched his beard. "Who would have one of those rockets out here in the first place? This doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, and where is everyone" Jill asked, looking around. "Someone should have stayed behind to meet us."

Wesker looked over the copter, his mind working. "We'll figure that out later. Chris, Joseph, check and see if there are any injured inside. The rest of us will secure the area."

Chris and Joseph nodded and jumped into the copter. Joseph made his way to the cockpit and looked in. He found Kevin with his throat missing and blood all over his body. "Christ!" Joseph yelped.

Chris joined him and saw the body. "What the fuck happened to him?"

Joseph turned to Chris. "Let me guess, the same person or persons that shot down the copter did this too."

Chris started to gag on the smell. "We better tell Wesker." Both men quickly left the copter. Chris ran up to Wesker. "Kevin's dead. Someone or something ripped out his throat."

Wesker was taken back by the statement. "Did you say his throat was torn out? This is getting serious. Bravo must be in more danger than I thought. We better find the others fast."

Jill looked around the woods. She could feel that something was wrong. She made her way over to Barry. "Is it me, or is it too quiet."

"It's night Jill." Barry said. "It's usually quiet around this time."

Jill shook her head. "No, I mean we should be hearing crickets and frogs. Instead, it's like there's nothing alive in here."

"You're just being paranoid." Joseph said, still shaken up by what he saw. "Your imagination is playing tricks on you." He suddenly heard a rustling from the bushes. He spun around and pointed his shotgun in the direction of the noise. He saw nothing. "Ok, now my imagination is acting up." He lowered his shotgun and took a deep breath. Just then a dog burst from the bush and ran towards him. Joseph stared at the dog before coming to his senses. He raised his shotgun and fired off a shot just as the dog leapt at him. The animal took the blast in its stomach and was thrown back. It hit the ground and started to get up. Joseph looked on in disbelief. "That's bullshit; I nailed it right in the chest. It shouldn't be getting up."

More dogs emerged from the woods and ran at the team. "Everyone, take them out." Wesker ordered. The team began firing at the dogs. Chris and Barry fired at the beasts, each missing the fast-moving animals. Joseph blasted one dog and dodged another. Jill dodged a dog and shot it in the back as it ran from her. The dog let out a yelp and fell to the ground. It got back up and growled as it turned to its attacker. Wesker managed to hit two, but each dog got up and shrugged off the wounds.

"I guess this answers the question of why Bravo team isn't around!" Barry yelled over the gunfire.

"Now what?" Chris asked as he fired at another dog, managing to hit it in the leg.

Wesker pointed towards Brad's helicopter. "We'll escape on the copter and head for the mansion. That's probably where Bravo team went to. Chris, Jill, take the lead. Joseph, cover our backs. Let's go before we become dinner." The team made a break for the helicopter, with the dogs hot on their tails.

Brad had the copter ready to go. Ever since he heard the gunshots he knew something was wrong. He looked over in the direction that Alpha team had gone and watched for them. He saw something, but it wasn't his friends. He saw a pack of dogs heading right for the copter and the open door. "Shit!" Brad drew his gun and fired off several rounds at the approaching beasts. He dropped one but the rest kept coming. "This isn't good. If they get in, we're all screwed. Sorry guys." Brad lifted off before the dogs reached the copter.

Wesker saw Brad take off. "What the hell is he doing?" Wesker asked, more to himself than to anyone else.

"Where does he think he's going?" Chris fumed. "Doesn't he see we're in trouble?"

Wesker's radio crackled to life. "Sorry Captain, but I had to take off." Brad's voice said. "Fido and his friends were trying to get a free ride. I'll have to find a more secure place to pick you up."

Wesker snatched up his radio. "I understand. Head for the mansion and pick us up there. There should be a heliport at the rear of the building. Give us the direction of the mansion from our current position."

"Two o'clock ahead of you, maybe thirty feet." Brad said. "I'll see you there, over and out."

Wesker placed his radio back on his belt. "Head for the mansion, we'll rendezvous with Brad there. We may be able to find Bravo team and the scientists. Run as fast as you can and don't look back." The team broke for the mansion, the dogs still after them. After what seemed like forever the mansion came into view. The team bolted through the gate and up to the front door, passing William's car on the way. Chris reached the door first and opened it. After everyone was inside Barry joined him in slamming the door shut. Some of the dogs jumped at the door, but the heavy wood held. Everyone was exhausted from the running. Jill and Joseph collapsed on the floor. Barry leaded back against the door while Chris propped himself against it with his right arm. Wesker remained standing, breathing deeply. When he got his breath back, he spoke. "As long as that door stays closed we'll be safe from those things. As for this place, we better keep our guard up. We don't know what happened to William, but whatever may have attacked him may still be here."

"Maybe those dog things got into the house from some other door or window." Barry said.

"If that's the case, we better be careful." Jill added.

Wesker checked his gun. "Check your ammo and be ready for anything." A gunshot echoing from somewhere in the house caught everyone's attention. "That could be someone from Bravo team. Chris, Barry, Jill, check it out and return here. Joseph and I will stay here and secure the hall."

Barry and the others quickly made there way to the dinning room. Barry opened the door and Chris rushed in, sweeping the room. He gave the all-clear and the trio made their way to the door at the other end of the room. As Barry passed the fireplace a large puddle caught his attention. "What the hell?" He bent down and ran his finger across the liquid. "This looks like blood."

"What the hell happened here?" Jill asked. "This is getting creepy."

"I'll check the other room." Chris said. He left the dinning room and entered the hallway. He looked to the right and then to the left. In the middle of the small lounge he saw someone lying on their stomach. He walked over and nudged the body with his foot. Getting no response he flipped the body over with his foot. What he found was a corpse that looked partially decayed. There were several bullet wounds in the person's chest. Some of the wounds looked current. Around the mouth was fresh blood. "Ok, it's official. Something fucked up is going on and it's not good."

"Where do you think this blood could have come from?" Jill asked.

Barry looked around the room. "Who knows, but we better see if Chris found anything. Staring at a puddle all day isn't going to get us anywhere." Barry and Jill entered the hall and walked over to Chris, who was still kneeling over the dead body. "Shit, this is just what we need. First the hellhounds and now there's some gun-toting psycho running around the place. Wesker won't like this at all."

"From the looks of him he's been here awhile." Jill said.

Chris stood up and turned to his friends. "I don't think so. I recognize him from the party last night. Also, he looks like he was shot two different times. Several of the bullet wounds look like they were made maybe an hour ago. We better tell Wesker about this. I don't think we're safe in this place."

"Good idea." Barry said. "The sooner we find our friends and those scientists the better."

* * *

"Anything on the second floor?" Wesker asked.

"I don't see anything unusual." Joseph replied. He finished looking around the balcony of the main hall. "Good thing we got the grand tour of this place last night. At least we know where most of the rooms are."

"The others should be here any minute now." Wesker said. "Get back down here." Wesker looked back towards the front door while Joseph descended the stairs. The dogs had stopped trying to get a few minutes ago. The door to the dinning room opened and the rest of the team walked over to Wesker. "What did you find?"

"We found a body." Barry replied. "It's in bad shape, but the funny thing is the poor bastard looked like he was shot two separate times. The latest wounds look fresh. We haven't found any trace of Bravo team."

Wesker took in the information. "You better show me the body. After that we should start searching the mansion. We'll start with the west wing and work our way to the east wing. Maybe we'll find some answers along the way, a maybe someone who can tell us what happened." The team made their way back to the body. Wesker looked at the corpse. "This is definitely odd. We better check this area for survivors. Chris, Jill, take that door over there. Joseph, check the lounge. Barry and I will go down and check the kitchen. Meet back here." Everyone split up and began the search. Chris and Jill entered the west hall and made their way to the stairs. Chris ran up the stairs and checked the landing. Jill noticed a puddle of blood at the foot of the stairs. Chris also found blood stains on the second floor. Joseph looked through the lounge and looked behind the bar. Wesker and Barry searched the kitchen and found signs of a struggle. Blood was smeared on the walls and floor, like people had been executed. Everyone returned to the room with the body. "What did you find?" Wesker asked.

"Nothing in the lounge." Joseph said. "The room was empty."

"Our room was empty too." Chris said. "However, there was blood everywhere."

"Same in the kitchen." Barry said. "Someone definitely got trigger-happy in this place. I don't what to know who did it as much as I want to know where the bodies went to."

"It's a possibility that whoever killed the people here moved the bodies." Wesker said. "We'll search the next hall. Maybe we'll find some more clues."

Alpha team moved to the next hall and split up again. Joseph entered the first door to the right and found a room with a tiger statue. Barry moved to the end of the L-shaped hall and entered the door. He found a greenhouse and more bloodstains. Jill and Chris tried to enter the first door to the left but found it locked.

"Jill, think you can pick the lock?" Chris asked.

Jill smirked. "I have a better idea." She took a step back and kicked the door open. "Who needs to pick locks when this will do?"

"Very subtle." Chris said as he followed Jill into the room.

The pair searched what looked to be a guest room. Jill recognized the suitcases lying in the corner. "I think this is Alexia's room."

Chris scanned the room and saw an envelope on the desk. "Someone left her a letter. We better take it. You never know."

Jill pocketed the letter. "At least we'll be able to give it to her if we find her." The pair left the room and met back up with the others. "We found Alexia's room, but she wasn't in it. We did find a letter written to her."

"It's probably a personal letter." Wesker said. "Keep it for now. All we have to do is search one last hall and we can move upstairs. Let's go." The group moved through the last remaining door into the next hall. Wesker motioned for Joseph and Chris to check the door to their left. He, Jill, and Barry moved down the hall and around the corners. As they approached a set of stairs they saw a body on the ground. "Joseph, Chris, get over here now." Wesker called. The two men ran towards where Wesker was leaving the room unsearched. As they ran off the knob began to slowly turn.

"What is it Captain?" Joseph asked as he and Chris caught up.

Wesker pointed to the body. "We found another corpse. It's just like the last one. The gunshot came from this direction, so whoever shot this person must still be here."

Barry pointed at the door they were standing near. "They could be in there. Maybe it's someone from Bravo team?"

Wesker looked at the door and nodded. "Everyone get ready. Barry, open it." Barry opened the door as the rest took aim. They were greeted by several guns aimed at them.

"Jesus!" Kenneth exclaimed. "Finally, some familiar faces. What kept you so long?"

"We ran into some trouble." Wesker replied. "Is this everyone that survived?"

Kenneth shook his head. "No, the rest of the team is somewhere around here. If you don't mind me asking, it would be better if you get inside and shut the door. There's no telling how many more of those things may be running around."

Alpha team filed into the small room and shut the door. The room was filled with medical supplies and had a cot in the back. Billy was leaning against the wall next to the door. Rebecca was busy tending to Edward, who was lying on the cot. His right arm was bandaged with blood seeping through.

"What's the situation?" Wesker asked. "And where is the rest of your team?"

"We were attacked by dogs after we crashed." Kenneth began. "We split up and ran to this place. Rebecca and Edward were the last to get here. They brought that guy along." Kenneth pointed to Billy. "His name's Billy Coen. Apparently he was passing through and was attacked as well. Anyway, the place was quiet so we split up to search the mansion. Enrico said he was going to look out back. Forest and Richard took the east wing and we took this side. We've been hold up here for the last hour."

"What happened to Edward?" Jill asked.

Rebecca turned to Jill. "He got bite by one of those…people."

""We just got through the dinning room and went into the hall." Edward said through gritted teeth. "This guy came out of nowhere and chomped down on my arm. Billy and Ken blew him away. Ah man, my arm hurts like hell."

"He's been like this ever since he was bitten." Rebecca said.

Chris pointed to the door. "What about the guy outside?"

"He was trying to get in." Billy replied. "Had to shoot him."

"We heard the gunshot." Wesker said. "But I don't see how what you told me was possible. These people look like they have been dead for days."

"I couldn't believe it either, but that's what happened." Kenneth said. "The other guys must be pinned down as well. They should have started looking for us by now."

"We already searched this area." Barry said. "We didn't find anyone. Did you look upstairs?"

Billy shook his head. "We didn't even try. For all we know there may be a small army up there."

"We better check it out." Wesker said. "Joseph, Chris, did you check that last room?"

"No." Joseph replied. "You called for us before we were able to."

Wesker looked at everyone in the room. "Alright, we're going to search the second floor of this wing and then move to the east wing. If Edward can't move I want Rebecca and Mr. Coen to stay here with him. We'll come back for you after we search the entire house."

"I'll be able to move." Edward said. "The bastard didn't get my shooting arm."

"Good." Wesker said. "Let's move out."

Kenneth nodded and walked to the door. He was just about to open the door when it was pushed open by another one of the corpses. The man grabbed Kenneth and bit into his neck. The rest of the team backed away and watched, helpless to stop the attack. The man pulled back and tore a chunk of flesh from Kenneth's neck. Using his last ounce of strength Kenneth pushed the man out into the hall before falling down. Rebecca rushed to help him, but she couldn't stop the bleeding. Kenneth made a gurgling sound before passing away. Barry and Wesker immediately fired several rounds into the man before he could get up.

Joseph stared down at Rebecca, who was cradling Kenneth's body. "It must have come from that room we didn't check." His voice became heavy with regret. "If only we had looked Ken wouldn't be dead."

"You don't know that." Billy said. "It may have come from upstairs. Must have followed the noise we were making."

"This isn't possible. This person looks just like the others." Jill said, staring at the attacker. "How can dead people be walking around? And why did he bite Ken?"

Wesker and Barry approached the attacker. "I don't know what is going on, but the rest of our friends are in danger." Wesker said. "I can't even imagine what happened to William and the others. We have to find them and get them out of here. We have to move now. Joseph, take Chris and Jill and make sure that last room is clear. The rest of us will secure the stairs."

Joseph, Chris, and Jill took off down the hall. "I can't believe this is happening." Jill said. "It's like we're in some horror movie."

"The sooner we find everyone and get out of here the better." Chris said.

"Amen to that." Joseph added. "We stay here any longer and we're all toast." As they rounded the corner they saw someone standing in front of the door. The person looked different than the others. Its head was bright red and its hands were a pair of sharp claws. As soon as it saw the trio it growled and ran at them. "Shit." Joseph raised his shotgun, but the creature stabbed him in the gut with its claw before he could fire. He dropped the gun and stared wide-eyed at the creature as blood trickled from his mouth. The creature withdrew its claw and Joseph fell to the ground. The creature then shifted its gaze to Chris and Jill. Chris immediately fired three shots. The first two missed but the third hit the monster's arm making it angry. Jill fired one shot, hitting it in the head and knocking it back.

"Someone needs to work on their aim." Jill said, still trained on the creature. The thing regained its composure and prepared to charge. "You have to be kidding me. That was right in the head."

"We need to get Joe's gun." Chris said. "Jill, distract it."

"That won't be a problem." Jill retorted. She fired two more shots causing the creature to focus on her. Chris ran towards the creature and ducked under it as it swiped at him. He rolled past the creature as Jill kept firing. Chris grabbed Joseph's shotgun and blasted the monster right in its back. It turned only to catch a full blast in its face. Its head exploded into pieces, sending blood, brain, and bone everywhere.

Wesker and the others ran over to where Chris and Jill were. "What happened? Wesker asked.

Jill checked Joseph's pulse. "We were attacked by a monster. We killed it, but Joseph's dead."

Chris knelt down and looked at the body. "I don't believe this. This is the same body we found near the dinning room, the one that bit Edward."

"That can't be, that guy was dead." Billy said. "We shot him several times."

Wesker took off his shades and rubbed his eyes. "This can't be happening. First Kenneth and now Joseph. I hope Enrico and the others are still alive." Wesker put his shades back on. "Let's search the rest of this mansion quickly. The more time we waste the better the chance that we won't survive."

Suddenly the sound of moaning filled the hall. Billy turned and saw two people descend the stairs. "We have company. What do we do?"

"Aim for the head." Wesker said. "It may bring them down faster." Barry and Billy took aim and shot each person in the head. Both individuals dropped to the floor and stopped moving. Wesker walked over to the men with his gun drawn. "Good work. How can these people be moving around? Both these men look like they've been shot before."

"I think the bigger problem is how to stop them from changing into that." Rebecca said, pointing to the clawed monster.

"We could burn them." Billy said. "That way we may be able to keep them from coming back. I saw a tank of kerosene in the supply room. I say we pile them up and set them on fire."

"It's worth a shot." Barry said.

Wesker nodded. "Get to it. Billy, get the kerosene. The rest of us will retrieve the bodies." Everyone went to work. Chris and Jill grabbed the clawed monster while Wesker and the others grabbed the ones that were just shot. Billy entered the supply room to get the kerosene. As he took the fuel Kenneth sat up.

"What the…" Billy began to say.

Rebecca and Edward dropped their body on the two in front of the door. "Billy, what's…?" Rebecca paused when she saw Kenneth stand up. "Ken, I thought you were dead?" Rebecca stepped forward, only to have Kenneth moan and lunge for Rebecca. She yelped as she jumped back. Edward saw Kenneth and quickly shot his old friend in the head.

"Becky, are you ok?" Edward asked.

"He looked just like those other people." Rebecca said.

Wesker ran over to the room. "What happened? I heard a gunshot."

"Kenneth came back to life and attacked Becky." Billy said. "Edward killed him again. Looks like anyone who dies after getting killed by one of those things comes back as one."

Edward looked at his arm. "Does that mean I'll become one of those things?"

"Not if we find out what's going on." Wesker said. "Besides, nothing may happen to you. We can't jump to conclusions until we know what's happening." Wesker turned to the others. "Get Joseph's body as well, we have to burn him too."

The bodies had been stacked and the kerosene had been poured. Wesker lit his lighter and threw it on the pile. The bodies went up as everyone watched.

"What do you think those people are?" Barry asked.

"If you ask me, they look like zombies from those B horror movies." Chris replied. "They act like them too."

"That's what we'll call them." Wesker said. "Let's search the second floor and take out any of these…zombies we find. Aim for the heads. That seems like the best way to take them out and save ammo. If we destroy the heads, maybe they won't be able to change. Let's go." With that, the team moved up the stairs.

* * *

Brad completed his pass over the Spencer Mansion and was on the way to the helipad. "I hope everyone made it to the mansion. I never knew this place was this big. Well, time to land." Brad closed in on the helipad. He was surprised to see a larger helicopter already parked there. "What the hell? Who does that belong to?" Brad's questions were ended when he saw two men next to the helicopter, one armed with a rocket launcher. The man fired a rocket straight at Brad's copter. "Shit!" Brad yelled as the rocket hit the copter's engine. The vehicle began to spiral out of control. Brad fought the controls and managed to straighten the copter. He flew it away from the mansion and looked for a place to land. He saw a spot with few trees and headed for it. Alarms blared as the copter dropped through the trees, taking out branches. It finally hit the ground and skidded to a halt. Brad quickly made his way out of the flaming copter and to a safe distance before the craft exploded. Brad took one final look at the copter before drawing his gun and heading for the mansion. "That's it; no one shoots a rocket at me and gets away with it."

* * *

Wesker waited with Barry for the rest of the team to arrive in the main hall. They had finished searching the second floor of the west wing and found no one alive. Billy, Edward, and Rebecca soon exited from the dinning room while Chris and Jill appeared from the door to the left of it. "What did you find?" Wesker asked.

"We found another zombie on the porch." Chris said. "It was near another blood puddle. It must have been killed there before."

"We got two in the library." Billy said. "We hit another two next to the elevator. We also found signs of an execution. There were bullet holes in the library, like those people tried to run."

Wesker turned to Chris and Jill. "What did you find on the third floor?"

"Nothing." Jill replied. "Looks like no one was up there."

"We got a zombie in the dinning room." Barry said. "It looked like it was previously shot, just like the others. The only other thing we found was some stuffed animals."

"We killed six on the second floor and got another five on the first floor, not counting Kenneth and Joseph." Wesker said. "That makes eleven so far. I know for a fact that there are only twenty people living on the mansion grounds. We shouldn't run into that many more. If we're lucky Enrico and the others may have taken the rest out. We should move to the east wing. We may find our friends there." The group crossed the balcony to the other side. Wesker motioned towards the far door. "Barry, take Chris and Jill and check the porch. We'll wait here for you."

Barry nodded. "Yes Sir. Come guys, we may find Forest or Richard." The trio headed through the door and onto the porch. They slowly made their way across the porch and to the balcony. As they rounded the corner they found themselves staring down the barrels of a shotgun and a grenade launcher. "Forest, Richard, thank God we found you." Barry said.

Forest lowered his grenade launcher. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes? You sure took your sweet time getting here."

"We got delayed." Chris said. "Did you find any sign of the scientists?"

"No, we've been more concerned surviving." Richard said. "We went through this entire wing and all we found were those things. We must have taken out ten to twelve of them."

"Did you make sure to shoot them all in the head?" Jill asked.

"We tried shooting them in the chest, but that did jack shit." Richard replied. "I started nailing them in the head and that seemed to work. Forest blew the rest into pieces. Why did you ask that?"

"Long story guys." Chris said. "Do you know where Enrico is?"

"He left us after we swept the first floor. He said he was going to go to the garden and check it out." Forest said. "Did you guys find Kenneth and the others?"

Barry nodded. "We just came from the west wing. We found them, but both Kenneth and Joseph got killed. Edward got bit by one of those zombies. We need to meet up with Wesker. He's waiting in the main hall." Both Forest and Richard agreed and followed the others back to the hall.

"What did you two find?" Wesker asked his men.

"Just those zombie things." Forest said. "Those rooms also look like they saw some action. There must have been a fire fight. There're bullets holes and blood stains all over the place."

"Just like in the other wing." Barry said.

Richard looked at the group. "We heard that Ken and Joe got killed. I hope Enrico is still alive."

Forest nodded before remembering something. "I just forget, it may not mean anything but we heard something that sounded like an explosion a few minutes ago. Maybe Enrico had something to do about it. It came from behind the mansion."

"That's where the residence halls for the other scientists are." Wesker said. "William and the others may be there. We should go there now. Let's move out."

* * *

Brad made his way to the wall surrounding the helipad. He found a way up and climbed to the top. From his viewpoint he could see three men in black combat clothing with assault rifles guarding a Chinook helicopter. "Time for some payback." Brad said to himself. He took aim and fired at the guards, hitting one in the head. The other two scanned the area and saw Brad. Brad jumped down off the wall and took cover behind some boxes. He fired again at the men and hit one in the leg. He then took off across the helipad as the last man continued to fire. The man saw Brad disappear behind the copter. He followed only to find that Brad had vanished. The man cautiously approached the back of the copter and moved towards the open rear door. He looked inside and found no one. "Surprise." Brad said as he appeared from behind a crate and took the man down. Brad then circled the copter to the injured man. He pointed his gun at the man and saw that he still had his gun. "Don't even think…" The man pointed his gun at Brad forcing him to shoot. The man fell dead as his gun clanked to the ground. "Why does no one bother to listen? I wonder who these guys are?" Brad checked the bodies but found no IDs. He then entered the copter and found two Stinger rocket launchers. One was empty. "I guess I know what happened to Bravo team's helicopter. But still, who are these guys, why are they here, and why would they want to shoot us down? There's definitely something going down, but what?"

* * *

Wesker's team made it to the shed that led to the courtyard. Everyone stopped in the shed to check their weapons and ammo. Wesker then began to issue orders. "I want to split into two teams. Forest, stay up here with Richard, Edward, and Billy. Secure the courtyard while the rest of us check out the dorms. If we don't find them there, the last place they could be is in the lab." Everyone understood their orders and exited the shed. As they made their way across the garden Forest heard a noise in the trees.

"Did you hear that?" Forest asked, stopping to look in the direction of the noise.

"It's your imagination." Edward replied. "There's nothing here but us."

The rustling noise continued again. This time everyone heard it. "Do you think it may be the dogs?" Jill asked.

"I hope not." Billy said. "I've had enough of those mutts."

"It sounds like it's coming from behind us." Rebecca said. Suddenly a huge snake burst from the woods next to the shed.

"Everyone spread out and fire." Wesker said. "Bring it down now." Everyone began to fire at the snake as it slithered towards them. Richard fired his shotgun at the snake's face. The reptile continued to advance on him. Richard lowered his gun and tried to run, but the snake was too quick and clamped its jaws over the top portion of his body. The rest of the team continued to fire as the snake thrashed its head back and forth. It finally bit down and severed Richard in half. Richard's legs and gun hit the ground as it swallowed the rest of his body. At this point the team had spread out. Barry used up the clip in his handgun and had switched to his Python. He took aim and fired a round into the snake's eye. The beast screamed in pain and went straight for Barry.

Forest fired a grenade and hit the snake in the back of its head. "Got ya, you prick." Forest sneered. The snake flicked its tail at him, sending him flying into one of the walls. Forest hit hard, dying instantly. His body fell to the ground leaving behind a blood stain where his head had hit.

"Forest!" Rebecca yelled, firing angrily at the snake. This got the monster's attention. It turned and made a beeline for her.

"Rebecca, get out of there now!" Wesker commanded.

Rebecca tried to move, but the snake was closing in too fast. Suddenly Billy dove into her, knocking both of them out of the way just as the snake took a bite. As they stopped rolling Rebecca looked at Billy. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Billy replied.

The snake, missing its next meal, hissed. Just then Jill aimed Forest's grenade launcher at its mouth. "Snack on this, bitch." Jill fired a grenade that flew into the snake's mouth. The reptile closed its mouth just before the grenade exploded. It lurched upwards and crashed to the ground.

Wesker holstered his gun. "Is Forest…?"

"He's dead." Jill replied. "I can't believe this is happening."

"Where the hell did that damn snake come from?" Chris asked. "What else are we going to have to fight? This is really starting to piss me off."

Barry picked up Richard's shotgun. "I sure hope Enrico didn't get eaten by this thing."

Wesker looked around the garden. "It's possible, but we have to believe that he didn't. Jill, check the lift over there. We need to take that down if we want to reach the residence hall."

Jill walked over to the lift and tried to activate it. "No good Captain. It won't work."

"What's through that gate?" Edward asked, pointing at the gate opposite the shed.

"The only other way we can go." Wesker replied. "Let's get a move on; there may be other animals like that snake around here."

Barry walked over to Billy and handed him Richard's shotgun. "Take it, you may need it."

"Thanks." Billy said. The group moved past the gate to a concrete drainage ditch that led to a gate. The gate was raised and the water was rushing out of it. A pair of ladders descended down either side if the ditch and was connected by a concrete walkway. Each person carefully climbed down the one ladder and made his or her way to the other ladder and climbed up. They then followed the path to another lift. They rode the lift down to the lower level.

Wesker waited for the last person to ride the lift down before speaking. "All we have to do is take this path to the residence hall. I want everyone to stay sharp. We don't know what is in that building." Wesker began walking towards the residence hall. "And I hope you're all right Will." He said to himself.

* * *

Chris and Billy kicked open the door to the residence hall and scanned the hallway with their shotguns ready. When they found the hall clear, they signaled the others. Wesker then ordered the team to fan out. Rebecca and Edward entered the door to the right. They entered a supply room that showed signs of a murder just like in the rest of the mansion. Jill and Barry entered the door across the hall. They found a dorm room with a single zombie. Jill quickly shot it in the head with her beretta. Barry entered the bathroom and found another zombie which he quickly dispatched as well. Wesker, Chris, and Billy entered the door at the end of the hall. They found themselves in what looked like a saloon.

"And I thought the lounge in the mansion was nice." Chris said.

Wesker looked around and saw blood splatters on the right-hand wall. "It appears that someone was killed here too. It obvious someone went through the entire mansion and killed everyone. What I want to know is how these dead people came back to life."

"What about that snake?" Billy asked. Suddenly something landed next to him. He turned and saw a giant spider. It reared up and made a sort of hissing noise. Billy responded by blowing it away with his shotgun. It flipped onto its back and contracted its legs before becoming still "Fucking spider." Billy spat.

Chris looked around the room. "OK, those zombies and dogs I can handle, but huge snakes and spiders are too much."

"There may be more of them." Wesker said. He started walking through the rest of the saloon. He walked around a decorative wicker wall and scanned the area. The rest of the saloon consisted of two levels. The lower level had several tables and chairs. The upper level had a pool table. Wesker made his way up two flights of stairs to the pool table. As he neared another spider crawled from behind the table. Wesker fired several shots into it killing it. He went back to the other two men. "This room is clear. William and the others must be in the other part of this building."

Barry walked in with the rest of the group. "Captain, we didn't find…Whoa!" Barry exclaimed as he saw the spider.

"That's one big bug." Rebecca said, walking over to it. "Is it dead?"

"Let's hope so." Billy said. "It should be since I blasted it with this." He patted his shotgun.

Jill walked over to Chris. "This is getting really weird."

Chris nodded. "I can't wait to see what we come across next. With our luck it'll be giant mutant ants."

"Al, this is getting out of hand." Barry said. He usually didn't call Wesker by his first name during mission unless things were serious. "I suggest that we find Enrico and those scientists as quickly as possible and get out of here. Then we talk to those people from the government and let them send in the Army."

"That's what I have in mind." Wesker replied. "However, I'm starting to get worried. Brad hasn't called in and what Forest said about hearing an explosion has me thinking that something happened to him. In any case, we can't stay here for much longer."

Edward was checking his gun when he felt dizzy. He leaned against the wall and clutched his wound. Rebecca went over to him. "Are you feeling alright?" She checked his forehead and found he had a fever. "How long have you felt sick?"

"Since we left the mansion." Edward replied. "What if that zombie gave me something when it bit me? Ken got bit and he turned into one of those things. What if I do too?"

Rebecca tried to calm Edward down. "Your wound probably got infected. I don't think you're going to become one of those things. It won't be anything serious."

"Maybe we can get Birkin or Alexia to look at it?" Chris said.

"I'm sure they can." Wesker said. "In any case, that's another reason to get out of here. We'll search the rest of this building immediately. Let's move." The group then left the room.

The team went through the door at the end of the short hall that jutted out from the main hall. As they moved down the hall two spiders approached them, one on the ground and the other on the wall. They were taken down quickly and the team advanced. As they neared the end of the hall they heard banging coming from behind one of the doors. Jill opened the door and peered in. She saw a group of zombies trying to break into a room at the other end.

"What do you see Jill?" Wesker asked.

"A group of five to six zombies." Jill replied. "They look like they're trying to get into one of the rooms."

"That may give us the element of surprise." Wesker said. "Plus the fact that they're trying to get in means that someone has to be in that room. Jill, fire a grenade into the middle of the group. The rest of us will mop up. Let's do this."

Jill opened the door and took careful aim, sending a grenade right into the middle of the zombies. The explosion sent the monsters flying in every direction. The rest of the group entered and killed the zombies that were still moving. Wesker then moved to the door the zombies were trying to get into and knocked.

"This is the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team. We're here to help you." Wesker said.

The door opened and William Birkin emerged with a pool stick. He signed with relief when he saw Wesker. "It took you long enough. You have no idea what we've been through."

"I can relate." Wesker said. "Do you have any idea what is going on here?"

William shook his head. "All I know is that we arrived here and found all the scientists had been turned into those monsters. We got attacked and tried to find a safe place in the mansion. But everywhere we went those monsters attacked us. We finally hid here. They've been trying to get in for the last half hour."

"Are Annette and Alexia ok?" Wesker asked.

"We're fine." Annette walked past William, followed by Alexia. "We should have listened to those people. Thank god you got the call. For some reason the phones went out. We know because we tried to call you back."

"If you ask me, we were better off in the mansion." Alexia said. "At least there we didn't run into any spiders. One of them almost got me in the bar."

"How did you make it past the snake?" Barry asked.

William looked confused. "Snake, what snake? What is he talking about?"

"On the way here we had to fight some giant snake." Wesker explained. "It killed two of my men. I also lost some men to those zombies."

"You have my sympathy." William said.

"We also have an injured man." Wesker said. "I was wondering if any of you could treat his wound, we believe it's infected."

"I'll look at him. There's a room with medical supplies here." Alexia said. She walked up to Edward and led him across the room to the supply room.

Wesker watched the two leave and turned to William. "Have you seen anyone else come in here? One of my men is missing and he may have come here."

Annette shook her head. "As much as I know we're the only ones that were in this building before you arrived. We would have heard gunshots. That's how we knew you had gotten here."

"We need to get out of here." Wesker said. "How do we get to the helipad from here? Maybe Enrico went there."

"We'd have to go through the lab to get to it." William said. "We could use the door that connects the helipad to the lab entrance, but it's broken. Do you have a helicopter waiting?"

"Hopefully." Wesker replied. "In any case, if that's where we have to go so be it."

"Captain, ask them if there's any place here where we could get ammo." Barry said. "We're running low on rounds for our shotguns. There's no telling what we might run into in the lab."

"Good point. Is there a security office in this building or in the lab that we can get ammunition?" Wesker asked.

William pointed to the door to the right of the room he was hiding in. "In that room they keep guns in case this mansion is attacked. You should find what you need in there."

Wesker turned to his men. "Chris, Barry, go see what you can find."

Chris and Barry nodded and walked to the door. Chris opened it and ran inside with his gun drawn. All he found was an empty room with two desks and some gun cabinets. Barry followed Chris in. "Looks like this room is clear."

"Yeah." Chris said. "To tell you the truth I was expecting to find something in here. Let's see what we can find." The two men found a load of bullets for their guns and shotguns. "Hey Captain, we hit the jackpot." Chris called. "We'll have enough ammo to handle anything we come across."

"Good job." Wesker called back. "As soon as Alexia is done fixing up Edward we'll leave for the lab. If we're lucky we won't run into anything else."

* * *

William led the team out to the courtyard. Barry had distributed the ammo to each member and Alexia had taken care of Edward's wound. The group was now standing in front of a waterfall.

"The entrance to the lab is behind that waterfall." William said. "We have to close the canal gate in order to stop the water."

"Can't we just run in?" Billy asked.

"Technically you could," Annette said, "But it would be difficult due to the force of the water. It would be easier to close the gate."

"If we do close the gate, how would we get down?" Chris asked. "With the gate down we won't be able to cross that ditch. The only other way is to take the other lift, but it isn't working."

"Whoever goes up there will have to climb down." Wesker said. "Who's up for it?"

Jill raised her hand. "I'll do it. I'm better at climbing that the others. Just tell me what to do."

"When you cross the canal you should see a pedestal with a crank." William said. "The crank will lower the gate."

Jill nodded and rode the working lift up. She crossed the canal and found the crack. She closed the gate, cutting off the supply to the waterfall and revealing a tunnel behind it. After closing the gate she made her way to the non-functional lift, walking past the bodies of the snake and her teammates in the process. As she neared the edge she looked down. "Damn, never figured it was this high up."

Chris ran over to the lift and looked up at her. "Hurry up and get down here."

"Believe me, I do." Jill said. "Being around that snake is creeping me out. I just hope I don't fall."

"Don't worry, I'll catch you." Chris said.

Jill smiled. "I'm sure you will. I'm coming down." Jill carefully started to climb down the shaft of the lift. She made it halfway down before she lost her grip and fell. Chris reacted quickly and caught her. The impact knocked Chris to the ground with Jill landing on top of him. "Thanks." Jill said.

"No problem." Chris groaned.

"Are you two done or do you need a room?" Rebecca said.

Both Chris and Jill glared at her as they got up. "We're fine." Chris replied.

"Let's stop wasting time." Wesker said. He made his way into the tunnel followed by Barry. The two men came to a ladder that went down. "The lab had to be underground. This is going to be difficult." Wesker said to himself.

"What's the matter? Didn't you used to work here?" Barry asked.

"I did, but it was a long time ago. I usually used the helipad. It's been awhile since I went through these tunnels." Wesker said. "Listen up, we'll move through here in this formation. Barry, Billy, and I will take the lead. Chris and Jill will cover William, Annette, and Alexia. Edward and Rebecca will cover the back. Let's move out."

The group descended the ladder. At the bottom Wesker chose to take the door to their right. The team moved in the formation Wesker had dictated. The tunnels were lit by dim lights that hung from the roof. This caused the tunnels to be filled with dark shadows and made visibility poor. At the T-intersection the group went left and through a door at the end of the hall. As Rebecca and Edward brought up the rear, Edward heard something move in the darkness.

"What the hell was that?" Edward asked, stopping to try and see what it was.

"What was what?" Rebecca asked. "I didn't hear anything. It must be your imagination or your fever is making you hear things."

"What are you two doing?" Chris called, standing in front of the door. "Wesker doesn't want us to get separated."

Edward heard the sound again, like something hard clicking on the stone and moving towards them. "Tell me you didn't…" Edward was cut off as a reptilian creature leapt out of the shadows and decapitated him.

"Edward!" Rebecca cried. The hunter looked at her and ran to attack. Rebecca retreated, avoiding the swipe from the creature's claw. She fired a few shots until she tripped on the rocky ground and fell backwards. The hunter pounced at her, only to get blown out of the air as Chris fired his shotgun into its chest. The hunter landed in its back and thrashed around. Rebecca got up and proceeded to fire at the monster until she ran out of bullets.

Chris grabbed Rebecca's hand. "It's dead and you're dry. We have to get out of here before any more of them show up."

Rebecca looked up at Chris. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know." Chris said. "I don't know what's going on here at all."

Meanwhile the rest of the group had stopped when they heard the gunshots. "Now what?" Barry asked.

A loud screech echoing from the hall ahead caught everyone's attention. "I think we're about to find out." Billy said. The room they had entered had a pit in the center. Across from the door they entered was a short hall that led to a small room. Another hall led deeper into the darkness and it was from this hall that two hunters emerged. They looked over their prey and growled.

"Get behind me." Jill told the scientists. She fired two shots at one of the hunters. The bullets hit it in the upper body. The hunter shrugged its wounds off and ran around the pit at Jill. Before it could get to her Barry nailed it in the heart with his Python. The hunter fell back dead. "Thanks Barry." Jill said.

"Don't mention it." Barry said.

The other hunter leaped over the pit and landed between Billy and Wesker. It turned to Billy and screamed. Billy responded by firing his shotgun. The hunter tried to dodge but got hit in the shoulder. Wesker took the opportunity to shoot the stunned creature in the back of the head.

"Keep your guard up, there could be more of them." Wesker said as he turned away from the hunter. More screeches were heard as two hunters emerged from the small room and another came out of the hall that the first hunters had come from. "Shit, this is not good."

"We have to go back the way we came." William said. "These halls lead to a dead end. The lab is in the other direction."

"We have to see if Enrico is here." Barry said.

"If he's in this part of the tunnels he's already dead." Wesker said. "Retreat to the entrance. We're dead if we stay here. William, since you know the way you lead." The group began to exit the room through the way they came. William, Annette, and Alexia left as the others provided cover. In the other hall Chris and Rebecca saw the scientists run up to them.

"What happened?" Chris asked. "You run into more of these guys?" Chris pointed to the dead hunter.

"We have to get out of here." Alexia said. "Those things are all over the place."

Jill followed behind William and the others. As she ran up to Chris, she saw Edward's headless body. "Damn it, they got him." She then turned to Chris. "Wesker wants us to retreat."

"I know." Chris replied. As soon as he said that another hunter appeared at the other end of the hall with another one behind it. "Becky, take the scientists and go. We'll be right behind you." Rebecca nodded and left with the scientists as Chris and Jill opened fire. Billy met up with them and joined in as a third appeared in the hall. Finally Wesker and Barry joined up with a hunter chasing them.

"Chris, Jill, Billy, get out of here as we cover you." Wesker said. He and Barry continued to fire as the rest left. "Barry, let's go." Wesker said. Barry nodded and both men retreated with the hunters right after them.

The team ran through the halls with William leading them. They ran through one door and then entered another. They found themselves in a large room with another door opposite them. Wesker had his men close and barricade the door. Barry found a piece of pipe and slide it through the door handles. The hunters that were chasing them began pounding on the door.

"This door won't hold them for long." Barry said.

"At least it'll give us time to escape." Wesker said. He turned to William. "How far is it to the lab entrance?"

"Through the door and down the hall." William replied. "We need to take an elevator to the surface. I doubt that we'll all fit in the elevator though."

"First we should search the rest on these tunnels." Wesker said. "We still haven't found any sign of Enrico."

Jill looked sorrowfully at the ground. "I hope he's not dead."

"I'm still alive, but I sure wish I wasn't." A familiar voice said from the corner of the room.

"Enrico, is that you?" Rebecca asked.

Enrico staggered out from the shadows. He was limping in his right leg and he had a gash across the left side of his stomach. "I wondered when you would come down here. Now that I think about it, I should have stayed up there."

"What happened to you?" Wesker asked.

Enrico leaned against the wall. "I went to the back of the mansion to see if I could find those guys, but I see you found them instead." He motioned to William and the others. "Anyway, I left that shed and all the sudden this big ass snake comes after me. I saw a lift and tried to operate it. The damn thing was broke, so I tried to climb down. The snake tried to get me so I let go and fell the rest of the way. I messed up my leg on the landing. I shot at the snake and drove it off. After that I looked for a place to hide. I saw the tunnel behind the waterfall and dived into it. After I forced myself past the water I came down here and ran into those lizard men. One got me good but I managed to drive them off with a flash-bang. I've been hiding here since."

Wesker looked at Enrico's wound. "I want to have Rebecca look at that."

Enrico shook his head. "That's not important. Where's the rest of Bravo team?"

"They all got killed." Barry said. "Becky and you are the only ones left."

Enrico closed his eyes. "Shit! Captain, I think we were set up, all of us."

"What do you mean?" Wesker asked.

"When we were coming here someone shot us down." Enrico explained. "Someone wanted us to come to this mansion. They used your friends as bait. We were set up, probably to see how fast those monsters could kill us. I bet whoever screwed us doesn't want us to leave. They may have already shot down Brad."

While Enrico was talking the hunters continued to pound on the door. The metal began to buckle under the assault.

"This door isn't going to hold much longer." Chris said.

"If we don't move, we're dead." Billy added.

"We'll head for the elevator." Wesker said. "We'll get as many of us in it as we can and those who can't fit will have to hold the creature off. If we barricade the other door we should have all the time we need."

"No Captain, I'll take care of these bastards." Enrico pulled out two grenades. "Go, when those things get inside, I'll give them a little surprise."

"You can't be serious." Barry said. "You'll die if you stay."

Enrico looked at his friend. "I'm dead anyway. I lost too much blood. Besides, I'd only be a burden." He turned back to Wesker. "Just promise me you'll get whoever set us up. It's funny; I finally believe what those two were saying."

Wesker looked grimly at Enrico. "Don't worry, we will." He turned to the rest of the team. "We have to go. Barricade the door after we leave the room."

"Don't tell me you're going to let him kill himself?" Rebecca pleaded. "Enrico, you have to come with us."

"It's my decision." Enrico said. "Now go before it's too late." The team reluctantly left the room as Enrico stared at the door the hunters were trying to get in. Enrico heard the door his friends had escaped through being secured. "Come on you pricks, dinner is served." Enrico pulled the pins on the grenades and watched as the door gave way to the hunters. The monsters rushed Enrico as he smiled and let the grenades fall.

The explosion made everyone cringe. Half the group hung their heads in sorrow while the others started yelling and cursing. Wesker stared quietly at the ground. "I want to know who made those monsters that are killing my men. And when I do, I'll make sure they pay."

"We all will." Barry said. The rest nodded in agreement.

"Mr. Thompson and Miss. Wong told me that we'd find the answers in the lab." Wesker said. "Let's go." Wesker headed for the elevator. Everyone else followed him, leaving the tunnels and what had become Enrico's grave.

* * *

The team had exited the tunnels and was now standing in front of a fountain. William took out a small keycard from his pocket and walked up to the fountain. He lifted one of the decorative pieces on the fountain to reveal a card reader. He inserted his keycard and punched in a five digit code. A buzzer sounded as the middle of the fountain opened to reveal an elevator.

"We need to take this elevator down to the lab." William said. "The problem is it'll only hold five of us at a time."

Wesker nodded. "Barry, you and Billy will escort William, Annette, and Alexia to the lab first. The rest of us will follow."

Barry nodded as he led the scientists to the elevator. As Alexia walked to the elevator Jill stopped her. "Before I forget, we found this in your room." Jill handed Alexia the letter.

"Thank you." Alexia said. "I found it on my bed last night. I meant to read it earlier"

"I hate to say this, but now isn't the time to be reading letters." Billy said. Alexia nodded and joined the others on the elevator.

Wesker and the rest of the team soon followed. Wesker stepped out of the elevator and headed for the door. "Search every part of this lab. I want answers as to what is going on here." The team walked through the door only to be confronted by several men with assault rifles. "Who the hell are you?" Wesker asked harshly.

A man walked passed the armed men clapping his hands. "Bravo, it appears that you have lived up to your reputation. That is fortunate for us. Now, if you'll please follow me. Oh, and call me Mr. Smith."

"I doubt we have any choice." Barry spat.

The armed men led Wesker's group down the hall and to a room past a flight of stairs where they were disarmed. Inside was a meeting room. A large table with chairs took up the middle. Smith walked in front of a projection screen. Armed men stood to either side of the group as they stood around the table. Three armed men guarded the door.

"What is going on?" Wesker demanded. "What happened to those people in the mansion and what were those creatures we fought in the tunnels?"

"You must be referring to the hunters." The Smith replied. "I think it'll be easier if I explain from the beginning. As you know, in this world weapons are very profitable. In that respect we felt that we should enter the business. Of course we had to come up with a weapon far beyond what was available. So we decided to make ours unique. To do so we employed the best minds in the fields of biotechnology, genetics, and virology. Dr. Birkin and his associated did a wonderful job. Without their work we wouldn't have succeeded."

"You used our research for this?" William said, not wanting to believe it.

"How could you do such a thing?" Annette asked.

"It was simple really." Smith replied. "We knew that none of you would consent to our plan so we strung you along. We played on your drive to make the world a better place, all the while making you think you were in control. Of coarse most of the other scientists here were kept in the dark as well. Only those loyal to us knew the truth. This was made easier by the fact that you were ignorant and never questioned us about what we did with your research."

"So those scientists we saw in the mansion and all those monsters were made by you." Wesker said. "How did you do that?"

"It's all thanks to our ultimate weapon, the Tyrant virus, or T-virus for short." Smith said. "The culmination of Birkin's, Ashford's, and Marcus's efforts. We used Birkin's research on the Ebola virus to make our virus highly infectious. We then used Ashford's gene therapy research to give it mutagenic properties. The wonderful thing about the T-virus is once it infects a host, it mutates the genes making the host into a weapon. In humans it turns them into what you would call zombies, creatures that live only to feed on live prey and spread the disease. Mammals lower on the evolutionary ladder become something similar, but become faster and highly aggressive. In reptiles, insects, and other lower organisms they grow to gigantic proportions. What's more, if a human infected is not decapitated or incinerated when killed they mutate into a faster, stronger variety. The virus can be transmitted through the air, through the water supply, direct injection, and of course through bodily fluids and bites. The virus is most impressive."

"What about those hunter things?" Chris asked. "How did you make those?"

Smith chuckled. "We used Marcus's gene splicing technology to splice together genes from different animals. We then threw in some T-virus and we created the perfect killing machines. The hunters aren't the only creatures we made this way. We have a whole line of monsters that countries will beg for."

"So they were right." William said. "You did use us to make weapons."

"I believe you are talking about John Parker and his partner Ada." Smith said. "They looked like they were going to be a problem. And when Dr. Marcus found out our plans were almost ruined. He suspected us for a long time, but recently he started digging. He planned to give sensitive information to them and if he succeeded that would be the end of us."

"So you solved your problem by killing him." Wesker said. "I figured that it was an inside job. I bet that's how you take care of all your problems."

"To be honest he was going to be killed anyway." Smith said. "You see, we didn't need him anymore. We don't need the services of Dr. Birkin and Dr. Ashford for that matter too. We already have what we required from them. Can't risk them learning about our secrets and talking to the wrong people. So we figured them into our plan. We needed some way to test out our creations on armed and well trained soldiers. We knew that Dr. Birkin and Captain Wesker were close so we used Birkin and the others for our trap. The meeting was just a way for us to draw the scientists together. They would be used as bait to lure you in. Of coarse the situation with Dr. Marcus complicated things but provided a better opportunity. We killed the researchers in the mansion and injected the T-virus directly into them, included Parker. We then let loose our other bioweapons and summoned Dr. Birkin and the others here. He called you and your men came. We would kill the scientists and test out our bioweapons at the same time."

"So your men were the ones that shot our choppers down." Barry growled.

"You used my men as guinea pigs?" Wesker said.

"Why do you think we persuaded you to form a S.T.A.R.S. unit in Raccoon city?" Smith asked. "Everything that happened here tonight was planned in advance. The data we got from you will be put to good use to make more efficient weapons."

Jill glared at Smith. "What data? Were you watching us the whole time?"

Smith nodded. "We installed cameras all over the grounds. Every second was recorded for our experiment. I must say you trained your team well Wesker. It would have been disappointing if none of you made it this far."

"You do realize people will come looking for us after we don't come back." Chris said. "And there are people who know what you're doing. You won't get away with this."

"We took that into consideration as well." Smith said. "This whole complex has been fitted with a self-destruct system tied into the main generator. After we get the data we need we'll leave and destroy all the evidence. And besides, the people of Raccoon City will have more to worry about than what happened to you."

"What do you mean?" Rebecca asked.

"Why our second test." Smith said. "We need to see how effective the T-virus is on a large metropolitan area. Raccoon City has already been contaminated with the T-virus. Our bioweapons have been released as well. It should be interesting to see the effects."

"The flu shots." Annette said. "You infected all those people just so you could see what would happen?"

"Spencer would never agree with this." Alexia said. "Once he finds out you'll pay for what you've done."

"You mean Oswald Spencer?" Smith said. "Oswald was an idealistic fool who thought he could make the world better. His son Patrick on the other hand is more practical. In fact Patrick has been running Umbrella for the past year. Oswald was disposed of when he disagreed with the company's business practices. But it seems like I talked too much. We have to complete our final test."

"What final test?" Wesker sneered. "What are you going to do to us?"

"I'm going to introduce your team to our ultimate creation." Smith said. "As for the others they will be taken care of later. Take them away." Several of the guards took William, his wife, Alexia, and Billy out of the room. Smith walked over to Wesker and the remaining people. "Take them to the main lab." The S.T.A.R.S. members were led out of the room and down the stairs. They were then led through the lab to a large elevator. They were herded into the elevator along with Smith.

As the elevator descended Barry leaned towards Wesker. "Do you know what's down here Al?"

Wesker shook his head. "I've never been down here. Neither has William. This area was off limits to us."

"Don't worry; you'll see what's down here yourself." Smith said. When the elevator stopped Smith led the team into a large lab. Computers ran along the walls and cryogenic tubes were set in the middle of the room. "This is where we conducted the true research on the T-virus. Behold the fruits of our labor." Smith motioned to a large cryogenic tube set into the rear of the room. Inside was a huge monster. It looked like a man but stood eight feet high and its one hand was a claw with three foot nails.

"What the hell is that thing?" Jill asked.

Smith beamed with pride as he spoke. "The ultimate soldier. We call it the Tyrant. This is produced when the T-virus fuses perfectly with the human body. Only one in ten thousand people become Tyrants. The rest turn into zombies. Fortunately we've found a way to make Tyrants from any subject. This was the first, and we want to see what it can do. Give them back their weapons. We need this to be a fair fight." The guards gave the S.T.A.R.S. members their weapons back.

"What the hell are you going to do?" Barry asked, not wanting to know the answer.

"You're going to fight the Tyrant." Smith replied. "After we see how well it fights we'll kill the others and destroy the mansion." Smith walked over to a control consol and pushed some buttons. The liquid in the tube began to drain. Smith walked in front of the tube and stared at the Tyrant. "Soon it'll awaken and your fate will be sealed. But don't worry; your deaths will serve a purpose." Just then the arm of the Tyrant twitched. "What the…" The Tyrant suddenly thrust its claw through the glass and impaled Smith. It lifted him up as blood flowed from Smith's mouth and his other wounds. The Tyrant threw Smith to the side and stared down its next target.

"We better get out of here." Wesker said. The team ran to the door, only to find that the guards had already run off and had locked the door. Wesker turned around and tried to think of a plan. "Listen, Smith may have a key to the door. Rebecca, go with Barry and search Smith's body. Chris, Jill, and I will distract it. Now move." Rebecca and Barry ran for Smith's corpse. Wesker, Chris, and Jill started firing at the Tyrant. The monster steadily approached them, the gunfire having no effect on it. As it closed in it swung its claw at them. The three ducked out of the way as the monster's claw missed and hit one of the cryo tubes. The tube shattered sending glass everywhere. Meanwhile Rebecca got to Smith's body and checked it. She found a keycard in his pocket.

"I found it!" Rebecca yelled. Her voice caught the attention of the Tyrant. It turned and started walking towards her and Barry. Barry began to fire his Python at the Tyrant.

"Ah shit, it's heading for them." Chris said.

Wesker ran towards the Tyrant firing his gun. "Shoot it from behind. Barry, get Rebecca away from that thing."

Barry nodded and grabbed Rebecca. "Come on Becky, we got to move."

Jill fired her Beretta and hit the Tyrant in the back of the head. The monster stumbled forward and turned to her. It roared and prepared to charge before Chris shot it in the chest. The Tyrant staggered back, the gunfire starting to have an effect.

"We're starting to weaken it." Wesker said. "Hit it with everything you got."

Barry and Rebecca had run around the room and joined the rest of the team in shooting the Tyrant. The monster finally gave in to its wounds and fell into the control consol, sending sparks flying.

"So much for the ultimate soldier." Barry remarked. "So what do we do now?"

"We get the others and escape from this place." Wesker said. "We'll figure out what to do after that." Wesker took the cardkey from Rebecca and opened the door. He looked out into the hall and found the guards gone. "The other guards must have left while we were fighting that Tyrant. We should hurry; they may try to blow this place up with us in it." The S.T.A.R.S. ran to the elevator and took it up.

* * *

Meanwhile Billy and the scientists were waiting in a holding cell. Billy looked out through the bars and leaned against the cell wall. "Well, if anyone has any bright ideas now would be the time."

William sat on the cot with his head in his hands. "How could I be so blind? I should have questioned Umbrella more but I never thought they would do this with our work."

Annette tried to comfort him. "They had everyone fooled. The only thing we can do is find some way to escape and let everyone know the truth."

"She's right, crying about it isn't going to make things better." Billy said. "Now come on people, you're all supposed to be geniuses. You have to have some idea of how to get out."

"I have one," Alexia said, "Though it may sound a little cheesy. I'll pretend I'm sick and get the guards to come in. Then you all jump them and take their weapons."

Billy smiled at the idea. "It's so crazy it just might work. I just hope these guys don't watch spy movies." Billy moved to the side of the door and gave Alexia the signal. On cue Alexia fell to the ground and started to moan in pain. "Hey, get in here now! I think this lady is infected!"

One of the guards looked in the room and saw Annette leaning over Alexia. "Help her!" Annette pleaded.

The guard unlocked the door and entered followed by a second. "Well, we were going to kill you anyway. Let's blow her brains out before she turns."

Billy jumped out from behind the door and grabbed the first guard. He used the guard's gun to kill the second guard before snapping his neck. Billy let go of the dead man and picked up his gun. "I'm sorry you had to see that, but there was no other way."

"Believe me; we've seen worse in this place." William said.

Billy led the scientists down the hall and up the stairs. He stopped at the door and saw two guards talking to a third. "The Tyrant is out and should take care of those soldiers from the RPD. Tell the other guys to kill Birkin and the others and then get to the helipad. Retrieve the data from the computer and set the self-destruct. We're leaving this place."

The other guards saluted as the third guard left. Billy waited a few seconds before barging through the door. He killed the first guard and shot the second in the arm as he rushed them. He then grabbed the wounded guard and held the barrel to the man's neck. "It seems that we have a slight change of plans. You're going to take us to our friends, give us the data, and then help us blow this place to hell. If you're good, maybe I'll let you live."

"Your friends are already dead." The guard said. "And even if I help you the men on the helipad will kill you the minute you show your faces. Anyway you look at it you will not leave here alive."

Billy pressed the gun barrel harder against the guard's neck. "I'll be the judge of that." Billy pushed the man out the door and into the main hallway. He headed around the corner and down the hall. "How do we get to the main lab?"

Just then Wesker and the others came out of the door at the end of the hall. "Billy, we were just coming to rescue you."

"We were going to do the same." Billy replied. "Anyway, Umbrella's goons are about to ditch this place. They have a helicopter on the pad up top. Counting the three I killed and this shit there may be four or five more."

"Good job Billy." Wesker said. "We have to take over that helicopter and find out if Brad is still flying over the mansion. He may be in trouble."

* * *

The elevator to the lab stopped and the guards ran onto the helipad. The lead guard looked around the pad. "Where the hell are Toby and the other guys?"

Brad popped out from behind some crates with an assault rifle. "Hi guys, expecting someone else?" He opened fire before the guards could react and dropped all of them. He then walked over to one of the guards and took his radio. "Let's see if the Captain and the others are still alive."

* * *

"What do we do now?" Barry asked. "We just can't sit here."

"We need to know what the exact situation is before rushing into it." Wesker replied.

Brad's voice came through the radio on the guard's belt. "Hello, is anyone there?"

Wesker took the radio. "Brad, what's your situation?"

"Still formal as always." Brad replied. "Right now I'm up on the helipad with seven dead bodies and a helicopter ready to get the hell out of here. One of those bastards took out my copter and I've been waiting up here for the last hour. Can someone tell me what the hell is happening here?"

"I'll tell you later." Wesker said. "Right now we have to blow up this lab and the mansion as well. Get the helicopter running and be waiting to lift off when we come up."

"Blow the place up?" Brad asked. "I have a feeling this will be one hell of an explanation."

"Just do it. Wesker out." Wesker turned off the radio and turned to his team. "We need to get any evidence that we can before we destroy this lab. William, would you be able to do it?"

William shook his head. "I doubt that I would have the access. Whatever they didn't want us to know about has to be hidden somewhere in the computers."

Alexia suddenly remembered the letter. "I almost forgot about this." She took the letter out of her pocket and opened it. "It's from James. _'Dear Alexia, I'm writing this to you because I believe my life is in danger. I have the information that both John and Ada need to bring down Umbrella. By the time you read this I will most likely be dead. If you get this please get William and Wesker to believe you and help you get the proof you need. James.' _He left me instructions on how to get to the proof he hid on the computer."

Wesker nodded. "Chris, Jill, and I will trigger the self-destruct system. Barry, take Alexia and the others to the main computers and get that information. I also want you to get the tape from the cameras. Our friend here will help us find the self-destruct system." Wesker grabbed the guard and stuck his gun in the man's back. "After you are done get to the helipad and wait as long as you can. We'll see you soon." Wesker left with Chris, Jill, and the guard as the others ran to the computer room.

* * *

"Is this where the self-destruct system is?" Wesker asked the guard. He was standing in front of the generator room with Chris and Jill.

The guard nodded. "In the back of the room is a control panel hooked up to the main generator. If we set the system, the whole place will be history."

"Then we don't have any time to waste." Wesker said. "Move." He shoved the man through the door before following.

Chris looked around the power room. Steam filled the room as pipes hissed. "It figures that the power room would be this hot. You'd think Umbrella would opt for electric instead of steam."

Jill smirked at Chris's comment and looked around the room. She stopped when she heard a noise. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Chris replied. "I think we're all a bit jumpy. It's probably the pipes."

"I did hear something moving." Jill said. "I don't think we're alone."

"Chris, Jill, try to keep up." Wesker said. "I don't want you two to get lost in here." Chris and Jill followed Wesker into the next room. The group made their way to the main generator. Wesker pointed at a consol next to the generator. "Is that it?" The man nodded. "Then activate it." Wesker said, pushing the man towards the consol. The man started typing in commands and was almost finished when something swung down from the ceiling and sliced him across the throat. The creature then landed in front of him and pounced. The man screamed as the creature tore him apart. It then turned towards the others and growled. It looked like a monkey with insect legs ending in claws sprouting out of its back.

"What the hell is that?" Chris asked.

"Must be another one of the monsters Umbrella made." Wesker said. He shot the chimera in the face three times. The monster fell back over the body of the guard. "There may be more, keep your guard up."

Jill spotted two more scurrying along the mesh ceiling. "Two more Captain, and I think they're hungry."

"Take them down; I'm setting the self-destruct off now." Wesker ran to the consol and hit the enter key.

"The self-destruct system is activated." A computer voice blared. "You have thirty minutes to evacuate."

Jill fired at one of the chimeras and brought it down. The second chimera swung down and got blasted by Chris. The monster hit the ground and tried to get up before Chris blasted it again.

"We have to hurry. Ignore these things and head for the helipad." Wesker said. The trio ran through the power room as more chimeras emerged from the vents. Chris fired at one chimera and winged it. Out of ammo for the shotgun he threw it at the chimera, stunning the beast and allowing the group to pass. Wesker and Jill fired blind shots at the chimeras behind them, hitting some. The group eventually reached the main door and ran through it. As Chris and Jill pushed the door closed Wesker caught his breath. "I hope we don't run into any more of those things."

* * *

Barry's group entered the computer room. Alexia ran to the main computer and began to follow James's instructions. She found a folder with various documents in it. "I found it. Everything we need to expose Umbrella is right here."

"We have to get it out of here." Barry said. "We need a disk."

William ran over to Alexia with a CD. "We can burn this to CD and give it to Ada and Ark, if they're still alive." William began to burn the information to the disk.

"We got all the tapes from the cameras." Billy said.

Rebecca showed Barry a bag full of tapes. "We really have Umbrella by the balls now, don't we?"

Barry chuckled. "Yeah, if we can get out of here." The files finished burning to the disk just as the announcement for the self-destruct system was heard. "Rebecca, you and Billy make sure these people get to Brad with the evidence. I'll wait for Wesker and the others."

Rebecca nodded. "Come on, we have to go." William retrieved the disk from the computer and left with Rebecca's party. Barry watched them run for the stairs before heading for the power room.

As Barry approached the door to the power room Wesker and the others ran from it. "It's good to see you alive." Barry said.

"We almost didn't make it." Wesker said. "We were attacked by more of Umbrella's freaks. Did you get the information we needed?"

Barry nodded. "I already sent Rebecca and the others to the helipad. We should hurry too."

Wesker led his men towards the stairs. "I agree, we don't have much time."

* * *

Brad heard the elevator start down. He raised his assault rifle and moved towards the elevator. The elevator soon began to come back up. Brad was relieved when he saw Rebecca and her party exit. "Finally, I thought I would never see you again. Where are the others?"

"They're right behind us." Rebecca said. "Captain Wesker wants you to get the helicopter ready. We're lifting off as soon as they get up here."

"You don't have to tell me twice." Brad said. He ran to the copter and climbed in the pilot's seat. The rotors began to turn as the elevator went back down. Billy led the scientists into the rear of the copter as Rebecca waited by the rear hatch for the others.

Wesker's group sprinted for the helicopter as soon as the elevator stopped. "Hurry up and get in. We only have around twenty minutes left." Wesker shouted over the sound of the rotors. Suddenly the pavement at the far end of the helipad buckled up.

"What now?" Barry asked.

The pavement was hit from below two more times before the asphalt cracked and exploded upward. The Tyrant emerged from the hole and turned to the S.T.A.R.S.

"Not that thing again." Rebecca said. "Brad, get us up now before it attacks the helicopter."

"What the hell is that?" Brad exclaimed.

"Something we thought we killed." Rebecca said.

"Shit, didn't we kill the Tyrant in the lab?" Jill asked.

Chris picked up an assault rifle. "I guess we didn't do a good enough job."

Wesker picked up another assault rifle and threw one to Jill. "Take it down, and this time for good." The team opened fire on the Tyrant as the copter lifted off. The monster roared and rushed the team. Wesker and Barry dodged to the left as Chris and Jill dodged to the right. The Tyrant swung at Wesker, missing and driving its claw into the ground. It turned to Chris and Jill, who were firing at its back. Jill's rifle went dry as the Tyrant charged at her. Chris knocked Jill out of the way and the two fell to the ground just missing the monster's claw. Chris rolled out of the way as the Tyrant attempted to spear him, its claw sticking into the ground instead.

"Get the hell away from them." Barry shouted. He fired his Python at the Tyrant. The beast began to advance on Barry and charged. Barry ducked as the Tyrant's claw sunk into the wall. Barry joined Wesker as the two men continued to fire. The Tyrant pulled its claw out of the wall, taking a portion of it with it.

"We have to do something." Rebecca said. "If we don't, it'll kill them."

Billy looked at his watch. "We're running out of time too. If this goes on any longer we're all dead."

"Can't we land and pick them up?" Annette asked.

"If we do it'll kill us." William said. "Is there anything in here we can use?"

"There's a Stinger rocket launcher on the floor." Brad said. "It's just like the one those assholes used to shoot me and Kevin out of the sky. Throw it to Wesker and have him use it."

Billy took the Stinger and tossed it out the back. "Here, use this on that what-ever-it-is."

"Jill, get the rocket launcher and shoot the Tyrant." Wesker ordered. "The rest of us will get its attention."

Jill ran for the rocket launcher as the men fired at the Tyrant. Jill picked it up and took aim. "Hey ugly, take this." She fired a rocket at the Tyrant. The monster turned and batted the rocket out of the way with its claw. The rocket flew off and hit the ground. "No fucking way." Jill said. The Tyrant moved towards her, ready to impale her.

"Jill, get out of there!" Barry yelled. He ran up and shot the Tyrant with his magnum at close range. The Tyrant responded by backhanding Barry, sending him flying towards the wall. Jill dropped the Stinger before she ran over to him and tried to help him up.

"Are you OK?" Jill asked, concerned for her friend.

Barry groaned. "That hurt like hell."

Chris and Wesker watched the Tyrant move towards Jill and Barry. Both men fired, but the Tyrant ignored them. Chris took aim at the Tyrant's head. "Just this once let me hit it." Chris fired, the bullet impacting the Tyrant right in its eye. The beast stopped and roared in pain.

The helicopter flew over again, this time Rebecca and Billy fired at the Tyrant with assault rifles they had found on board. "Blow that thing up so we can get out of here!" Billy yelled.

"Steer the Tyrant towards me!" Wesker shouted back. "Chris, get the Stinger and shoot it again."

Chris nodded and ran for the Stinger. The Tyrant, enraged, headed for Wesker who was standing in front of the elevator. Chris picked up the Stinger and aimed for the Tyrant. "Game over." He pulled the trigger and sent the rocket flying for the Tyrant. Wesker dove away as the Tyrant turned and took the rocket in the chest. It was sent flying into the elevator. The lift broke and fell as the rocket exploded, turning the Tyrant into bloody pieces.

"Good work Chris." Wesker said. He waved for Brad to set down. "We have to leave now. The mansion will blow up any second." Chris helped Jill get Barry into the copter. Wesker followed and moved up to Brad. "Take off now. We have to get as far away from this place as we can." Brad nodded and piloted the copter away from the estate. Several minutes later the mansion exploded in a giant fireball.

Rebecca tended to Barry's injury as Jill talked with Alexia. Chris moved over to Wesker and Brad. "What do we do now Captain? From what Smith said Raccoon must be already full of zombies. We have to try and do something."

"We also have to give this evidence to the people from the government." William added.

"I'm well aware of the situation." Wesker said. "I also know that you're worried about your sister. I'm also concerned for Barry's family as well as Sherry."

"So what are we going to do?" Billy asked.

"We can't just run away." Brad added.

Barry looked at Wesker. "So what are your orders, Captain?"

Wesker looked out over the woods. "Though we may be heading into a deathtrap, we don't really have any other choice." Wesker turned to his team. "We're heading back to Raccoon City. I want all of you ready to go. Our mission is to save anyone that we can and to deliver this evidence to the proper authorities. I for one won't run and abandon my home. Does anyone have any objections?" Seeing no one disagreeing with him, he turned to Brad. "Brad, let's go." Brad nodded as the helicopter flew towards Raccoon City.

* * *

**Comments: It's finally done. Umbrella's secrets have been revealed and our heroes have escaped. Well, on to bigger and better things. Look for a possible sequel as soon as I get around to it. I have other projects I'm working on, so stay tuned. Bye.**

"_Just when I think I've hit rock bottom, someone throws me a shovel and tells me to keep digging."_

_Anonymous_


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